Running From The Sun (I can't see the light)
by bettertoburnout
Summary: Beca x Chloe - Beca is spending a fortnight with her parents and younger brother Jesse when the apocalypse hits, except this is no ordinary virus causing widespread panic & carnage, and the whole world is soon affected. Chloe is separated from her group of aca-friends, but soon finds refuge with Beca and Jesse, and each group continues the fight to survive.
1. Chapter 1

I'd been on holiday with my parents and my brother Jesse when it happened. We had a lodge out in the country where we'd often spend summers together, although less frequently now that both Jesse and I had moved out. I was 22, and Jesse 19, and my parents had decided that it was time for another family vacation to keep us close. In truth, I'd reveled in the opportunity to escape my tumultuous home life when I turned 18, but I'd have been lying if I said that I wasn't also secretly looking forward to being in that quiet, snow-covered lodge nestled amongst the trees once more. It was enough to make this trip bearable. My plane touched down onto Georgia soil after a grueling 9 hour flight from London, and I practically fell into my mother's arms, which she took as a cue to start crying. My parents had in fact been divorced since I was 14, but they agreed to keep up the family vacations in order to make it up to me and Jesse. The whole arrangement worked for me; two weeks without the 'step-monster' as I so childishly nicknamed my father's new partner, and in which I could relax entirely, surrounded only by my relatively laid back family. I could tell that my father was still upset with my decision to move to London in order to pursue my music career, but though I felt this underlying tension as he hugged me tightly, I could still feel the love there and that was enough to let me know that things were still okay between us. Smiling tiredly, I pulled away and hefted my backpack onto my shoulder.

"Let's go, I need to sleep in a comfortable bed for several hours." I groaned, and my parents laughed as they helped me take my luggage to where they had parked the car just outside the airport. The Atlanta climate was like a slap in the face after the consistent coolness of London air, and I was sweating before we even reached the vehicle. Thankfully, it was comparatively a much shorter journey from the airport in Atlanta to our lodge, and I was asleep for most of it anyway. I woke to Jesse shaking my shoulder excitedly.

"Becs! Wake up!" I grunted and stretched, batting his hand away as I did so.

"Fuck off Jesse." I mumbled groggily, opening my eyes slowly.

"Language, Beca." I heard my father call over his shoulder as he walked towards the house, suitcase in his arms, but I merely rolled my eyes. Jesse was still grinning at me from the open car door, and I unbuckled my seatbelt and finally relented, hugging him tightly.

"It's good to see you dude." I laughed. He nodded as he drew back, still grinning. When I finally stumbled into the lodge, I noticed that my mother had turned on the little TV in the kitchen, and was staring at it intently, bags of groceries sat forgotten on the counter where she had initially placed them after entering.

"What's on that's so interesting?" I asked, beginning to sort through the bags myself. She took a moment to answer.

"I don't know, hun, some kind of incident in New York… Some sort new disease I think. It's killed a lot of people already." Her tone betrayed her worry, and I paused in my actions.

"Well, we picked a good time to come out here, to the middle of nowhere then, huh." I joked, attempting to lighten the mood. She turned to me and smiled sadly, nodding. We packed away the rest of the groceries quickly after that, and she turned off the TV as we did so. Soon, the news update was forgotten as we all sat around the large oak table tucking into dinner.

"So how's college, Jesse?" My father asked, beaming proudly at his son who sat across from him. He was extremely glad that Jesse had chosen to attend college at all, especially as I had refused entirely, and not only that, but Jesse was studying medicine.

"It's great thanks dad. The course is really interesting and not too hard, and I've met a ton of cool people already." I smirked at him and chuckled as he blushed slightly, looking down at his plate. I may not have attended college myself, but I wasn't oblivious to the typical college life. My parents didn't notice this exchange however, and turned to me now.

"And how's things with you, Beca?" I tilted my head slightly, irritated by the tone of slight disappointment in my father's voice.

"Good thanks. I've got a decent apartment of my own now, and I'm making good connections. I've had a few good slots recently, I think things are picking up for me now." I was trying hard to make it as a DJ, which wasn't easy as I had quickly discovered. Still, I was doing fine on my part-time job at a clothing shop, and with what gigs I did manage to get. My parents nodded politely, turning back to Jesse to question him further about his first year of college as a med student. I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment. Here was the family that I had come to resent, the one that always favoured Jesse, that never supported my decisions. Still, they were family, and there was no getting past that.

The next few days were spent in a similar relaxing, if slightly annoying, fashion. I spent a lot of time making mixes or simply sitting outdoors, enjoying the heat, and my father and Jesse would often go fishing down at the nearby lake. It was a week into the vacation that things really started to kick off. I was helping my mom in the kitchen, and we had the TV on in the background as we prepared vegetables for the stew we were making for dinner. I wasn't the best cook in the world, but I figured I might as well give my mom a hand as I had nothing better to do. There was a slight lull in our light conversation, and in that I heard a sentence that made me listen in properly to the news report that was currently showing on the television behind us.

"...The outbreak began in New York, and since then has spread rapidly to the surrounding states. We do not yet know the nature of the infection, only that those affected have become first extremely ill, and then in the second stage of the illness, violent, attacking anyone around them, even family and friends. We advise everyone to take extra sanitary precautions until we know more about how the disease spreads, and to stay indoors where possible. We will update you as soon as we know more." The news reporter moved on to another story, and I turned to my mother, seeing the same shock that I was feeling reflected in her face.

"It's spread already?" I murmured, and she nodded slowly. Just then, my father and Jesse came in through the back door, each carrying a bucket of fish and crabs.

"We've had a great day on the lake today, haven't we Jesse?" Dad said proudly, patting Jesse on the shoulder. He nodded, and they deposited the buckets beside the sink.

"Guys… there's some kind of mega-infection spreading across the country right now. It was just on the news…" I stammered, and they turned to me, confused expressions on their faces.

"Infection? What do you mean? Like flu?" Jesse queried, and I shook my head quickly.

"They don't know what it is. Apparently it makes you really ill at first and then you turn violent, attacking anyone around you. Including those close to you. They don't know how it spreads yet." Jesse looked bewildered and a little scared, but then my dad spoke up, his booming voice cutting through the tension in the room like an axe.

"There's no need to scaremonger, Beca. It's nothing more than another minor epidemic, probably something brought in by all those darn tourists. We'll be fine out here." I sighed, but I knew that he was probably right about us being safe out here. We were in the middle of nowhere after all, and not that close to New York. There was no point in worrying, and besides, we were meant to be on holiday. So, we forgot about it again. That is, until it turned up on our doorstep one morning, screeching and clawing and covered in blood. It came for us.

**AN: I just want to address a couple of things; firstly, I know that there are a couple of similar fics to this floating around and I hope that nobody considers this plagiarism - as far as I'm aware this story is different to those that already exist, it just happens to be based around a similar theme, that of some sort of zombie apocalypse. Secondly, someone picked me up on the fact that I use British English in my writing rather than the American English that you might expect from a fic set in the US. This is because I am British, and I have tried to dull it down and use American spellings and names etc in this as much as possible, though I'm sure you can appreciate that it's not easy to convert completely so please forgive any errors etc, I do try my best. Thanks :) **


	2. Chapter 2

"John!" My mother screamed, as I lunged forward to pull her out of the grasp of the man lying on our doorstep. He was making awful screaming noises himself, reaching out to grab at me desperately as I approached, still clutching at my mom's leg with one withered hand. She had gone to answer the door, and was met with this bloodied mess of a man dressed in tattered overalls. At first, I had watched on from the hallway as she bent down to help him, frantically fussing over him as she took in the sight of his various wounds. And then he had launched himself at her, viciously swiping at her arms and snarling. That's when I had intervened.

"What the fuck man! Let go!" I yelled, finally tugging my mother's leg out of his grasp, just as he brought his mouth up to it as if to take a bite. I then stepped forward and adopted an aggressive stance. He looked ill, that was for sure. His skin was a mottled red colour, with patches of white, purple and green showing through as though he was covered in one massive bruise. Then, there was the slash across his back, which was still bleeding profusely, although it looked to be a day or so old. His eyes, when I glimpsed them, were rolling back into his head, the pupils dilated and cloudy, like that of a blind man. I was terrified to say the least, but then my dad came running up behind me bearing his shotgun, which he quickly aimed at the man's head.

"Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to get off my property now before I have to put a bullet in you." He stated calmly, and the man merely screeched in response. My father gave him a few more warnings, before finally shooting a round into the man's leg. He yelped a little, but kept on trying to reach for us, to drag its bloated body across the doormat. My dad looked as though he didn't want to take any further action, although the man was slowly advancing now, dragging himself further into the house.

"Dad," I spoke calmly, turning slightly to half-face him. "Give me the gun." He blinked at me, dazed. Then, he shook his head.

"No."

"I said, give me the gun dad." He shook his head again, and I huffed, reaching up to pry it from his grip. He struggled for a second, but then the man retched and screamed again, projecting blood across the hall carpet, and he released his grip on the weapon in shock, allowing me to take it from his grasp. Before he could try to take it back, I aimed it at the man's head and fired. The shot echoed out, through the open door and into the forest beyond, causing several birds to fly up out of a nearby tree. My family stared at me in horror, tears already gathering in my mother's eyes.

"Beca… you.. you just…" I nodded slowly, also in shock at what I had just done. I had just killed a man… I had just…

"Wait, turn on the TV." I cried, rushing into the kitchen, still carrying the gun in one hand. My family followed nervously, and I turned to a 24 hour news channel, relieved to see what I needed to in that moment; another update on the illness.

"This just in - the infection, now termed, 'RA7', has spread across most of the US, and reportedly to several other countries around the world, in particular Britain and Japan. RA7 is believed to be some sort of neurological infection, caused by a new, unidentified virus that is being termed 'RA'. Scientists are still unable to determine how infection is caused, but we are greatly concerned by the speed at which it is spreading. We are being told to advise you all to take extra precautions when around others, and to stay indoors as much as possible." I turned to my family, shaking slightly.

"He had it. He had RA7. That was it. The second stage… first you get really sick and then you attack people, just like that. I had to do it." Jesse had gone completely white.

"Do you think… do you think we have it?"

"I don't know." My father was still staring at me in shock.

"Rebecca Mitchell. You… you just killed a man." I looked at him, eyes burning with tears.

"I had to do it, I was trying to protect you all! That was more of a zombie than a man, you try telling me that you didn't feel threatened!" I didn't even realise that I'd started shouting. He too raised his voice in response.

"I didn't say I didn't feel threatened, but there were other ways to deal with that Beca. That was murder! I.. I-" He broke off, suddenly staring at the entrance to the kitchen, which I had my back to.

"What the-" He was cut off by a roar, shortly followed by the body of the man that I had just supposedly killed lunging forwards and barreling into him, knocking him to the floor. It wasted no time in ripping into the delicate flesh of his neck.

"DAD!" I screamed, throwing myself forward and ripping the man off of him, pushing him to the floor and once again firing a bullet into his head. He slumped back, and I watched in horror as after a few seconds, he began to twitch and rise once again.

"He won't die!" I shrieked, as my mother and Jesse bent over my father, desperately pressing at his wounds. RA7… What could that stand for? I didn't have much time to think as the man was lunging at me again, swinging his hands towards me clumsily. I fired again and again into his chest and face, watching in horror as the flesh flowed back together before my eyes. Finally, I was backed up against the wall and out of rounds, so I used the butt of the gun to push him back and eventually out of the back door, which I shut and locked quickly, before running to do the same to the front door.

"Jesse, help me get all the windows shut and locked!" I yelled, and he sprinted out to help me, tears and blood staining his panic-stricken face.

"He got dad, Becs, he got dad." He whimpered, and I bit my lip hard as I fastened one of the windows tightly.

"I know Jesse. I tried to kill him but.. he wouldn't die."

"What could possibly cause him to reanimate like that?" Jesse mumbled, and suddenly it hit me.

"Jesse! RA7 - re-animate 7 - I knew it! It is that virus, it makes you sick then it turns you into some kind of… zombie, one that keeps being reanimated after death!" He turned to me, fear shining in his eyes.

"Becs… if that was a zombie, and it bit dad, does that mean…" my stomach flipped completely as realisation hit, and Jesse and I raced back into the kitchen, where we were met with a scene of carnage. My father, already red and purple and patchy like the other man, was digging his fingers into my mother's back, pulling her towards him as he began to screech wildly.

"Mom! Get away from him!" I screamed, but it was too late. Jesse cried out and fell to his knees as our dad bit into her, the blood from both their wounds cascading onto the tiled floor. My head was spinning and my heart pounding loudly in my ears, but my survival instinct kicked in and I grabbed the back of Jesse's shirt, hauling him to his feet.

"Jesse, we have to get out of here. NOW!" I yelled, shoving him out of the kitchen in the direction of the front door.

"Wait-" he began, but I cut him off.

"No, Jesse, we have to go, we can't save them, we-"

"Beca! I know we need to get out of here, it's obviously not safe enough, but we need weapons. We need supplies. We have to take a backpack okay?" I suddenly realised that he was right, and nodded quickly, already running to the nearby cabinet in search of ammunition for the shotgun.

"Everything we need is in the kitchen with… with…" He stopped, choking back a sob. I nodded again, turning the problem over in my mind.

"I have an idea, but it's kinda risky."

"Tell me. We don't have much choice." He muttered grimly, and so I quickly explained.

"Okay, there's another 50 rounds here, and I know dad has more in the shed. This is enough for the first stage of the plan though. I'll lure them both out of the back door and outside whilst you grab what we need from the kitchen. Put everything into those massive hiking rucksacks we have in the attic, and make sure to bring clothes and toiletries as well as food. Torches, knives, everything. I'll take them as far into the woods as possible before doubling back and getting what I need from the shed. I'll come to the front door and ring the bell when I'm back. Until then, don't open any of the doors or windows, okay?" Jesse agreed to the plan, and we set about carrying it out. First, I helped him to get the rucksacks from the attic, and then we packed our clothes into our individual rucksacks. There was still plenty of room in both when I handed mine to Jesse, and he acknowledged that fact grimly.

"There should be a torch in the kitchen cabinet, but I'll look for one in the shed too, it might be there. Get all the canned food, and anything else you can fit in, okay? I'll be back as soon as I can be." I could see that he was still fighting back tears, but I knew that we didn't have time for that right now, and I signaled that I was going to start the second phase of the plan. I sprung into the kitchen, gun at the ready, and both my parents, now in the reanimated state, turned to stare at me with blinded eyes. I called out to them as I ran past, almost slipping several times in the blood that coated the floor before reaching the back door and kicking it open.

"Come on, this way!" I shouted, grimacing as they stumbled to their feet and lurched after me, surprisingly fast. I started jogging out towards the forest, and I saw Jesse moving across the kitchen to close the door behind us. I gave him a little salute, and then I was alone. Well, sort of. My breath was already ragged in my chest, particularly in the stifling heat of the summer, and I was getting a stitch in my side.

"Fuck, I should have kept up with the jogging." I gasped. I could hear my parents… the zombies, crashing through the foliage behind me, and sped up slightly, alarmed by their increasing pace. I was armed, but I knew that they would just keep on coming back even if I shot them, so my only real chance was to run until I could lose them and double back. Suddenly, another figure loomed out from behind a tree ahead of me, blocking my path. I shrieked, and barged past roughly, noticing the same white eyes watching me go. Another one. Another fucking zombie.

"Well that's just wonderful." I muttered through gritted teeth, already trying to loop back towards the lodge. The screeching from behind me was intensifying, and I couldn't help but think that this might draw in anything else that might be lurking around in amongst the trees. Sighing, I decided to take action. Turning to face my pursuers, I fired a shot into each of their heads, taking off as soon as they slumped to the floor. Hopefully that would give me enough time to escape them and make my way back to the house without them following. It seemed to work, and I slowed my pace slightly, allowing my breathing to level out and my thoughts to flow. What had I really just done? Both my parents were dead, although that wasn't my fault, but I had tried to kill a man today. I realised that I couldn't carry on with these thoughts if I wanted to make it back to Jesse in one vaguely coherent piece, and so I started jogging lightly again, breathing a sigh of relief as the lodge came into view. I went carefully round to the back, making my way over to the shed as quietly as possible. I knew the combination for the padlock, and was soon inside, searching for the necessary items. There were several more packs of rounds, probably making over 300 in total, and as well as that a couple of torches, spare batteries, pliers, a hammer, a screwdriver, an axe, a bucket, a coil of thick wire, rope, a shovel and a can of petrol. It dawned on me that I'd need the rucksacks out here in order to get all this stuff together as fast as possible, and so I ran back to the house and rang the bell, allowing myself a small smile of relief as Jesse opened the door, handing me a bulging rucksack and shouldering his own.

"Found what you need in the shed?" He asked, and I nodded, gesturing that he follow me round. We wasted no time in packing the supplies, and soon each rucksack was completely full, and ridiculously heavy. Jesse had gathered plenty of food and medical supplies as well as the clothes and toiletries that we'd packed earlier, and with the extra weight of the tools, I could hardly stand upright. I wasn't exactly tall, standing at about 5"2 to Jesse's 6"0, but I forced myself to manage the weight. He now carried the axe in one hand and a steak knife in the other, and I still had the shotgun under one arm and a hundred rounds in each pocket of my jacket.

"So… where do we go now? What do we do?" Jesse asked in a quiet voice as we started walking towards the woods in the opposite direction to that I had taken earlier, and I stopped in my tracks. I hadn't really planned this far ahead.

"I don't know… I guess we just… we just keep moving. We can't go back to Atlanta, we'll just get infected what with all the people. We should find one of those small country towns and see if anyone will take us in." He nodded, and we set off once again. We walked for hours, until he finally spoke up again, his voice hoarse and strained.

"Becs, can we… can we stop now please? I have to, I h-" he choked out a sob mid-sentence, and sank to his knees, tears beginning to stream down his face. I knelt down in front of him and placed my hands on his shoulders and only now let myself cry too. My parents were dead - I finally confronted that reality. The worst part was that they were dead and yet they weren't, they were still shuffling around trying to tear people apart, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop them now. And so Jesse and I knelt there sobbing quietly as the darkness drew in, until finally I rose to my feet, the tears having dried up a while ago, and began to make a camp.

"We'll have to take turns to sleep." I stated calmly, back to shutting off all emotion in the wake of what had just occurred. Jesse was still kneeling on the floor, head bowed, and I wasn't sure what else to do but to carry on making preparations for the night before it got too dark.

"We have to survive, Jesse, we have to, for them. I still haven't entirely come to terms with what just happened today, but we have to keep pushing forward, I know that much. We still have each other, okay?" I saw him nod, but he made no further effort to move, and I decided to leave him be whilst I lit a small fire. We had stopped in a clearing bordered by dense foliage, and I hoped that it would reduce outside visibility enough to warrant even this tiny fire. I dug some food out from my pack, a can of sardines, and handed him one of the forks he'd packed. He took off his pack now, and shuffled closer to the fire, taking in the heat of the flames as he tucked into his can. I did the same, and as I finished, I looked up to see that he had fallen asleep where he sat beside the fire. I smiled slightly. He must have been completely exhausted, and so I took the first watch, only waking him up several long hours later, when the moon was up and my eyelids were far too heavy. We traded shifts throughout the night, and by the morning we were rested enough and still alive, which was apparently quite something in light of this new plague. And then, someone dived straight into the middle of our makeshift camp, all flailing limbs and screaming, and I leapt to my feet, gun ready to fire before I heard her speak.

"Don't shoot!" I gaped as she scrambled to her feet, brushing her hair out of her face. Another person had found us already.


	3. Chapter 3

I kept my gun aimed at her head as she rose, although my finger left the trigger.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I hissed, looking around to check that nothing had followed her. She bit her lip, fighting back tears.

"My name is Chloe, Chloe Beale. I was escaping Atlanta with a group of friends, and we were hiking through the woods but we were attacked by those… things and got separated. I saw you through the bushes and thought you might be them…" She trailed off, looking at me sheepishly. Jesse was frozen in a crouch beside me, watching her carefully. I sighed, and lowered the gun, gesturing that she sit.

"Okay. I guess you can stick with us for a bit until we can find your friends, alright?" She nodded rapidly.

"Yes, thank you so much! I'm really sorry for scaring you." I smirked slightly.

"That's okay. You hungry?" I was altogether too aware of the effect that this girl was already beginning to have on me - She was, quite simply, breathtakingly beautiful, and as she smiled at me I felt an explosion of butterflies in my gut. I handed her a can of peaches and the opener, before turning back to Jesse, who was still watching her with suspicion in his eyes.

"What are you doing, Beca?" He whispered. I shrugged.

"We might as well help her, and besides, there's safety in numbers. We might do better in a larger group, perhaps her friends will help us out in return." I didn't want to tell him that the real reason I hadn't wanted to send this girl packing with a gun to her head was that I was already extremely attracted to her, but he seemed satisfied with my answer anyway and sighed, turning away to sort through his rucksack. I turned back to the girl, who was exuding a sense of relief and exhaustion as she ate.

"I've been running around this forest for a few days now, just looking for somewhere safe. I'm so glad I found you guys." She mumbled.

"Yeah, it's pretty lucky." She looked up at me now, her piercing blue eyes meeting mine with apprehension.

"Did you guys come from the city too?" I shook my head slowly.

"No, our family owns a lodge up here, we were staying there, my parents, my brother Jesse and I." I pointed over to where Jesse sat as an introduction.

"If you don't mind me asking… what happened? We all thought it'd be safe this far out…" I bit my lip, brow creasing slightly.

"We… some guy, one of the people infected, he turned up on our doorstep and went for my mom, so I sort of shot him. And then he came back to life, and attacked my dad and bit him. Jesse and I were locking all the doors and windows when we realised the nature of the infection, but when we got back to the kitchen where our mom was looking after dad, it was already too late. He got her, and they both turned, so we had to lure them out into the woods and gather all these supplies before leaving. We figured we'd find a small farming village somewhere far out from Atlanta, see if we could hole up there." I noticed tears forming in her eyes as well as mine, and I cleared my throat firmly, determined to tough it out in front of her.

"That's awful… I'm so sorry." I shrugged.

"Yeah."

"By the way, I never got your name…"

"Beca." I replied quietly.

"Beca… I love that name." She smiled softly, and I returned it, if weakly. She shuffled closer, and I blushed a little at the increased proximity.

"We should probably head out soon, I don't want to stay in one place for too long." I stated briskly, standing up and moving over to my rucksack. Chloe lowered her eyes, nodding.

"You haven't told us what happened in Atlanta yet." Jesse finally spoke up, and I looked back over my shoulder at him, noticing the resentment still evident in his face.

"Oh, right. Well, I was at college there, staying on campus for a few weeks with some friends until I could go back to my parent's house, when all hell broke loose. There were those news reports first, which I'm sure you saw, and lots of people were already panicking and leaving. We stayed, but then people started getting attacked all over the city, and the police started evacuating everyone to this army base somewhere further out. We were on our way to the evacuation point when we were intercepted and attacked by a group of the infected, and we had to run for it. We got lost out here, and then a few nights back I got separated from the others and now here I am." I could hear the worry in her voice.

"How many of you were there?" I asked gently.

"Eight, nine including me." she exhaled audibly, her breath shaky. Jesse was looking at the ground again now, as if he was ashamed of his emotions towards the redhead. I went and knelt beside him, lowering my voice to speak to him directly.

"What's wrong, Jesse?"

"I'm sorry, I'm just still torn up over yesterday, that's all. I can't wrap my mind around exactly what has happened yet. It's all been so fast, I'm just really on edge Becs." I understood how he felt; I too was still reeling with loss and anxiety, but I was pushing forward because I knew that we couldn't afford to sit back and let this just _happen _to us.

"Come on, we should go." I spoke louder now, and both Chloe and Jesse responded by getting to their feet and starting to collect up our things. This was going to be an interesting day to say the least.

_meanwhile…_

"Amy, keep up, we need to get a move on if we're going to find somewhere to stay before dark. Besides, we need to make the most of the light to look for Chloe." I barked, aware that my tone was steely. Amy, who was trailing behind the group, merely chuckled in response.

"I definitely should have taken that cardio tip more seriously, that's for sure." She panted, and the others laughed. I just scowled. The group consisted of Amy the joker, Bumper, her rival / partner in crime, Stacie the sex-addict, Donald the middle-man, Lily the quiet creepy one, Ashley the nice one and Denise the peace-maker. I was, by default, the leader, as I had been in charge of the Bellas back in college, the acapella group that all the girls were part of. Bumper and Donald were part of the rival acapella group, the Treblemakers, but somehow they'd managed to tag along with us, and I wasn't about to chuck them out now. I may have been bossy, but I wasn't heartless. Anyway, their strength and survival knowledge had come in handy so far. The only person missing from our group was Chloe, my best friend of three years. We'd met at college and been close ever since, practically like sisters by this point, and losing her had been really hard on me. It had all happened really quickly, and we had no idea how we'd do it, but we all agreed that we had to find her. And so, we trudged on through the dense woodland, crudely sharpened sticks at the ready in case of another attack. Somewhere behind me, I could hear Donald teaching Lily to beatbox, and Bumper trying to chat up Amy, and I was so busy listening in to these other conversations that I didn't hear another person approaching, leaning down to whisper into my ear.

"You okay, Bree?" I jumped, startled, and spun round to see Stacie grinning triumphantly. I snorted and kept moving, the others oblivious to this interaction.

"Fine, thanks, or at least I was until you came over here and scared the crap out of me." I grumbled. She giggled, and I couldn't help but smile with her. She'd been really great since we lost Chloe, staying by my side and making sure that I was dealing with it okay. She knew how close Chloe and I were, and I couldn't thank her enough for her support in response to that. She walked close to me now, our hands brushing idly as we moved in tandem.

"What do we do… what do we do if we can't find her, Bree?" she suddenly asked in a timid tone. My face froze.

"I… I don't know, Stace. I don't know." It was an idea that was totally abhorrent to me, leaving these woods without Chloe, but I knew it was one that I would have to consider before long. I had the safety of the rest of the group to consider, and knew that we couldn't survive in here without adequate supplies forever. We were already running low.

"Just give me a few more days, then we'll talk more about it, okay?" I muttered, and she nodded, falling back to walk with Ashely and Denise who were chatting cheerfully. I sighed, and plowed ahead, still scanning the horizon for that flash of red and blue that would lead me back to her. She had to be here somewhere. She had to be.


	4. Chapter 4

We set off in the direction that the sun had risen in that morning, East, which I hoped would bring us out of the forest but in the opposite direction to Atlanta. Jesse had told me that he and dad often studied a map of the surrounding area for when they went hiking and hunting together, and that if we carried on due East, we'd come out the right side and be able to find some smaller town somewhere. Sadly, the map hadn't been in the house or the shed, and we hadn't thought to check the car.

"Come to think of it, we should really have brought the car." I mused, stopping for a second as I watched Chloe's eyes widen and Jesse's brow furrow.

"You guys have a car back there?" I nodded, and Jesse grunted in frustration.

"We didn't even think to get it out of the garage. We could still go back? That way we could drive out to some other town, and have somewhere sheltered to stay until we find one."

"Or until we run out of petrol. Still, there's probably a few extra canisters in the garage, and we could take more supplies if we had a vehicle… Okay, let's go back for it." I decided, and Chloe beamed at me.

"Thank goodness, a car will make things so much easier. But wait, how will I find my friends if we leave the forest?" I shook my head.

"I don't know. I guess you wouldn't be able to… I know, give me one of their names."

"Uh, Aubrey." She replied, and I took a deep breath before yelling as loudly as I could.

"AUBREY!" a couple of birds rose up out of nearby trees, and Jesse grabbed hold of my shoulder, eyes blazing.

"Beca! What the fuck do you think you're doing?! You're gonna call any of the infected right to us!" I sighed.

"Look, we can escape them if they do arrive, there's only a few in these woods so far. I'm just trying to get Chloe back to her f-" Something screeched from behind me, and I reacted instantly, spinning round and firing without thinking.

"Run!" I cried, watching as the infected man collapsed to the floor. We broke into a sprint, and I called to Jesse to lead us in the general direction of the lodge. Something else was crashing through the bracken behind me, and I looked over my shoulder in time to see three more of the infected racing towards us at an alarming rate.

"Shit." I hissed, grabbing the axe from the outer pocket of Jesse's pack where he had stowed it. Still running, I swung it at each of them, severing their heads in a few laborious motions. Chloe was yelling at me to keep up, but I had to slow down in order to hack at each of the bodies. I figured that if I mutilated them enough, it'd buy us some running time while they reanimated. Right? I grimaced as blood spattered up from the bodies, but wasted no time in turning on my heel and dashing back towards Chloe and Jesse, who were watching on in horror.

"Go!" I grunted, and they did so, all of us crashing haphazardly through the branches, still following Jesse's lead.

"Beca…" Chloe began, but I cut her off.

"Look, I know that was horrible and I probably seem like a total psychotic bitch but I'm just doing what I have to, I swear. I swear." I didn't realise that I was almost crying, but I couldn't bring myself to look and see her reaction to my words as I clumsily wiped my face with the back of one bloodied hand. She remained silent, the only sound our laboured breathing as we struggled to keep pace. Eventually, we came to a place that I recognised, and I called out to Jesse.

"This is that lake, Jesse!"

"Yeah, I know. We'll be there soon." He replied, still jogging, and I willed myself to keep going just a bit longer. Chloe looked as though she was about to collapse, and without thinking, I grabbed her hand and began to pull her along with me. She didn't betray any surprise at my touch, instead squeezing my hand in hers and smilingat me. I didn't have the energy to smile back, but I felt happiness at the contact spreading through me. Finally, we arrived back at the lodge, and all collapsed in a heap in front of it, gasping desperately for air.

"Fuck… that was… really… really… not fun." I panted, clutching at my side. Chloe nodded, also breathing heavily. Jesse was already unlocking the front door cautiously, reaching over to the mantlepiece just inside and grabbing the keys to the garage and the car. He closed the door quietly, and then made his way over to the garage door, that was adjacent to the lodge itself. I staggered to my feet, and after pulling Chloe up beside me, followed him over. I didn't notice that neither of us had released our grip on each other's hands, and Jesse eyed us suspiciously as we trailed over still holding hands. I glanced down and blushed, but Chloe just giggled as I pulled away. We soon had the door open, and the car unlocked, and began packing our stuff into the trunk immediately.

"Shall I do another sweep of the house?" Jesse asked, and I nodded.

"That's a good idea. We can take a lot more now, so grab whatever else we might need." He exited through the door that joined the garage to one of the back rooms of the lodge, axe in hand as a precaution, and I began to search the shelves and cabinets in the garage for anything else we could take. I found five spare containers of petrol, a road map of Georgia and a few other surrounding states, a handgun, more ammo and some old CDs. I stowed all of these items away into the footwells of the backseats, making sure to load the handgun, put on the safety, and tuck it into my belt, placing the remaining ammunition into the glove compartment. Chloe watched on as I did this, tilting her head to the side slightly as if she was contemplating my actions. I turned my head in her direction and quirked an eyebrow.

"Can I help you?" She seemed flustered.

"Sorry, sorry I didn't realise I was staring. I was just watching how you handled that gun…" I shrugged, moving to stand just in front of the anxious-looking girl.

"My dad used to take me out shooting with him every summer. I hated killing animals though, so we used to practice on a range that we built out in the forest. I'm used to handling guns." She nodded in understanding, though she hadn't asked for an explanation. I still felt that I owed her one.

"About earlier… I'm sorry that I scared you. I'm sorry that I put you in danger too, I wasn't really thinking." I searched her eyes for the reproach that I expected to see, and instead was met with a look of something entirely the opposite.

"Beca, it's okay. I guess I'm still getting used to the idea that this is actually happening… You did the right thing when they attacked, and you were only trying to help. You ended up saving us I guess, so it's okay. You did well." We exchanged tentative smiles, and I almost reached up to touch her face, but then Jesse came back in carrying a couple of plastic bags bulging with food and extra clothes.

"I got a whole lot more stuff Becs, fruit and vegetables too." He grinned, seeming happier than he had been since this had all started. I returned his smile, taking the bags from him and putting them into the trunk with the rest of the supplies.

"Good, at least we won't get scurvy now." I joked, winking at him playfully. He stuck his tongue out in return, and I laughed. We were all in better spirits now, although Chloe kept throwing glances back out at the forest.

"You okay?" I asked, noticing this.

"Yeah, sorry, just thinking about my friends again. There are an awful lot of the infected out there, and if we leave I don't know that I'll ever see them again…" She trailed off, a single tear sliding down her cheek. I went back over to her, taking her hands in my own. A bold move for me, but I felt it was necessary.

"Chloe, I need you to trust me on this. We can't take anymore chances out there… This could be our only hope of survival, driving further out from Atlanta, and… I mean, we could always technically leave you here but I don't want… I couldn't do that. I really don't want to have to do that, Chloe, please don't make me leave you." The emotion was colouring my voice, and I struggled to hold it back as she gazed at my face in wonder.

"You really mean that?" I nodded furiously.

"Yeah. And who knows, we may meet up with them again further down the road. But right now, we need to stick together and live, okay?"

"Okay." She smiled gently, and god, I wanted to kiss her just then. But Jesse cleared his throat from the back seat of the car, and I blushed and turned back to face the vehicle, moving around to the driver's side.

"Jesse, why are you in the back?" Chloe queried, tentatively opening the passenger door, not yet climbing into the seat. He shrugged.

"The packs are back here, I figured I should be here in case we need something from them, I know where all the stuff is, after all."

"Oh, okay." Chloe replied, finally taking the passenger seat and closing the door behind her.

"Okay, we all set?" I asked, looking to the others, who nodded in unison.

"Right then, let's go." I sighed, starting up the engine. We turned right out of the drive, and began our journey. Chloe spent the whole time staring out of the windows, looking for her friends presumably, and Jesse was soon snoring away in the back. I hummed quietly to myself, already missing the presence of music, which usually had such a large part in my daily life. I carefully extracted a CD from the pile and inserted it into the player, turning the volume down low so as not to wake Jesse. The opening chords of some old folk song flowed out of the speakers next to me, and I smiled. My dad had always had a thing for this sort of music. I didn't know the song, but it didn't take long for me to pick up the melody and hum along, even adding some harmonies by the last chorus.

"What was that song?" Chloe asked, eyes never leaving the window.

"No idea, I don't know it." I replied, and now she turned to stare at me.

"Oh… okay." She turned back, and I chuckled lightly.

"So, what were you studying at college then?" I asked, in an attempt to strike up a conversation. I was usually more of the antisocial type, but something made me want to get to know this girl better.

"English." She replied.

"That's cool. You write poetry or something?"

"Sometimes. I prefer writing stories really." I glanced at her, and noticed that she was looking down at her hands now.

"Ooh, even better." I smiled. She looked at me.

"What about you? Do you go to college?" I laughed.

"No, I chose not to. I was out in London working on starting up my music career, but I came back here for a family holiday." She nodded slowly.

"Do you sing?"

"A little. I'm trying to make it as a DJ though, I make mixes and stuff." we sat in silence for a few minutes, until she spoke up again.

"Were you… with anyone before all this?" I shook my head.

"No, thankfully. I'd only have lost them with this, and…" I trailed off, cursing myself for nearly revealing my rapidly growing feelings for the redhead.

"And?" She asked, but I just shook my head again. "Well, I know what you mean. I'm glad I wasn't either." I glanced across and met her gaze, wondering if there was something more than common curiosity behind the question. Suddenly Jesse started awake, arms flailing frantically before he realised where he was.

"Woah… Sorry, I just had a crazy dream." He murmured, slumping back into the seat.

"Want to talk about it?" I asked, and he just shook his head, so I left it, instead concentrating on the music that was still drifting out of the speakers beside me. The light was already beginning to fade, and I decided to pull over so that we could set up for the night.

"We should still sleep in shifts, just in case. I'll take first watch." I stated, and Jesse leant forward at that.

"No, I will. I just slept a few hours, I won't be able to sleep for a while now anyway."

"Alright, thanks. Wake me up after a few hours, okay?" I conceded, and he began digging some food and blankets out from one of the rucksacks. Chloe was watching me again, and I could feel her eyes traveling across my face as I took a can and the opener from Jesse. I smiled, and offered it to her. She took it carefully, and I felt her fingers brush across mine as she did so, causing me to shiver slightly with desire.

"Thank you." she said, seeming extremely grateful, and I smiled in response.

"That's okay." I took my own can, and we began to eat our tins of canned vegetables and cold baked beans.

"Tomorrow night we can stop a little earlier, make a fire to cook these and then move a little farther for the night. That way we won't be in any danger, and we can eat something a bit nicer." I looked to the others to see their reactions, and they seemed pleased with the suggestion.

"Something cooked would be lovely." Chloe sighed, prodding at the beans in her can with a fork dejectedly.

"Tomorrow then." I said firmly, hoping to cheer her up with the prospect of cooked food.

"For tonight, why don't we shift everything around, so that the rucksack that's in the other seat back here goes in the passenger seat, and whoever's on watch can sit in the driver's seat? That way the other two sleeping can lay down back here somehow." Jesse suggested, and Chloe and I agreed, finishing up our food before helping to move everything around without having to leave the car.

"Oh gosh, sorry!" Chloe giggled as she clambered across me to get through the middle section and into the back seat next to Jesse.

"That's okay." I wheezed as she moved from on top of me, blushing a little. Jesse and I then swapped places, and as he got comfortable for his first few hours of the watch, Chloe and I tried to figure out how to manage sleeping in the back seat.

"It's no good, Becs," Chloe laughed after a few minutes of us trying in vain to balance on the seat without touching. "We're gonna have to snuggle up." I was glad that it was too dark for her to see me blushing as I relented and moved in close to her, so that our bodies were pressed tightly together. I was closest to the edge of the seats, and so she grabbed my arms and looped them around her waist, making sure that I wouldn't fall over the edge and onto the floor as we slept. I sighed and gave in to my embarrassment, deciding to just get comfortable and enjoy the proximity for now. She seemed to be enjoying it too, for she hummed contentedly, and began to trace circles on the back of the hand that was exposed atop her waist, interlocking our fingers with her other hand. I froze slightly at this, then relaxed again, smiling into her back happily.

I awoke to daylight, which came streaming through thick strands of red hair as it cascaded across my face. It took me a moment to understand my position, but then I realised that Chloe and I were now facing each other, as she had turned over in the night, and my face was currently pressed into her neck. I swallowed hard, and tried to regulate my breathing so as not to wake her. However, it was too late it seemed, as she shuffled down slightly so that our faces were level, and smiled at me in a languid fashion.

"Morning." She whispered, her eyes flickering to my lips. Or did I just imagine that?

"M-morning…" I stuttered, gazing back at her in a daze. Surely she was about to kiss me, surely-

"Oh, you two are awake." Jesse yawned from the front, craning his head around to grin at us, winking to Chloe conspiratorially as I quickly rolled over to face him.

"Wait a second, Jesse, you didn't wake me to take over!" I gasped, punching him lightly on the shoulder. He just laughed.

"I slept for ages yesterday, I wasn't tired. And besides, you and Chloe looked so peaceful and _cosy_." He wiggled his eyebrows at me, and I whacked him again, all too aware of my cheeks going red and Chloe giggling good-naturedly.

We all got up and brushed our teeth just outside the car, using bottled water in place of a tap. Then, we ate 'breakfast', and set off again, resuming the same positions we had yesterday. Chloe spent most of the drive watching me this time, only occasionally glancing out of the window, before turning back to me. It was weird, but I was starting to get used to the idea that maybe something would happen between us. At about noon, we were still driving down a road bordering the forest, although we had kept it West of us so far, meaning Atlanta was that side too, and we planned on turning right and going East as soon as possible. Jesse was once again asleep in the back seat, and I was humming along to a new CD when I suddenly felt a hand on my knee, and Chloe's voice rang out, laced with horror.

"Beca, stop the car." I slammed my foot on the break, causing Jesse to start awake again.

"Wha-" he began, and then we heard a scream. Through the window on Chloe's side, we could clearly see a bloody scene taking place in the trees beyond. A young couple were surrounded by a group of the infected, who were losing no time in attacking. I could see that both had been bitten. Chloe's hand was still on my knee, and she squeezed even harder now as began to crawl away again.

"Can't we… I just…" she began to sob, desperate to assist the travelers. Fighting back my own tears of frustration and sympathy, I only sped up, shaking my head as I took her hand in my own now, interlocking our fingers like she'd done the night before.

"There's nothing we can do for them now. I'm sorry." She gulped, and stared at me for a moment with watery eyes before nodding and leaning back into her seat. Jesse was looking out of the opposite window from his seat behind me, and in the rear-view mirror I could see that he'd gone deathly pale. I didn't let go of Chloe's hand as I kept driving, soon doing 80mph, desperate to leave that place behind.

"You okay, J?" I asked, and he just groaned in reply, putting his head into his hands. "You need me to pull over?" He lifted his head again and nodded, and so I slowed to a halt, confident that I'd put enough distance between us and the infected back there to do so, before watching as Jesse leapt out of the car and began heaving into a ditch beside the road. I squeezed Chloe's hand before letting go and exiting the vehicle myself, going over to where Jesse now knelt panting, and placing a hand on his back.

"It's okay." I mumbled, and he sighed.

"I don't even know, Becs. What the heck is happening?" He was crying now, and I didn't know how to respond. I didn't know what was going on and, in truth, I didn't really know what to do either. I just had to keep pretending that I did, for Jesse and Chloe.

"You good now?" I asked him, and he nodded, falling back to sit on the tarmac.

"Can you just give me a minute?" He replied, and so I got back into the car, shutting the door behind me to give him a moment of privacy, only after handing him the axe though.

"Is he okay?" Chloe leant forward, her eyes betraying her concern for my younger brother.

"Yeah, he'll be fine, he just wanted a minute alone." She nodded in understanding. Then, slowly, she interlaced our fingers again, biting her lip and glancing up at me as she did so, as if to check wether it was okay. I smiled back nervously, and rubbed my thumb across hers, which made her smile too.

"Beca… I just wanted you to know that even if we don't end up finding my friends, then I know I'll be okay because I have you. That will make it better. You've been so good to me…" She trailed off, and I could see that she was struggling to form more words. And so I replaced the need to speak with action; I leant forward, slowly at first and then all at once because I couldn't bear the distance any longer, until our lips were practically touching. I paused, to give her a chance to reject me like I feared she might, but she remained silent, her breath mingling with mine in the tiny space between us before I closed it. And then, I was kissing her. I knew that we barely knew each other, but this pace truly suited this harsh new world, and if I'm honest, kissing Chloe gave me something to live for in that moment. We broke away, smiling broadly at each other, and Chloe's gaze moved to the window, where she laughed at what she saw. I turned and saw Jesse giving her a thumbs up, grinning himself, and I just flipped him off jokingly and gestured that he get back in the car.

"I totally called it." He chuckled as he buckled his seatbelt, and I rolled my eyes at him in the mirror.

"Whatever." I retorted, but I couldn't keep the smile from my voice. Maybe things weren't so bad after all.


	5. Chapter 5

"AUBREY!" I could hear Stacie screaming my name from somewhere off to my left, but I couldn't make her out in the darkness. We had been setting up camp for the night when they attacked, and none of us had been ready. One of the infected took out Ashley first, and then Denise as she was trying to save her friend. Donald, Amy and Bumper started fending off the first of the infected and then Denise and Ashley's reanimated bodies, when two more showed up, one trapping me and Lily in front of a tree and the other chasing Stacie off into the darkness. Lily had dispatched the infected in front of us, stabbing it clean through the head with her stick and then pinning each of its limbs to the ground with more of them, driving each stick in like a stake to give us more time to escape. Donald and Bumper were collecting up what supplies they could whilst defending against three infected, and as Lily rushed to help them I chased after Stacie.

"I'm coming Stacie!" I cried, leaping over low hanging branches as I followed the sounds of her screams and the screeching of the infected. I finally caught up with them and didn't hesitate to grab the infected from behind and ram it up against a nearby tree, bashing it's head repeatedly against the trunk until it was mashed in, hopefully giving us time to get away.

"Come on." I said in a defeated yet desperate tone, grabbing Stacie's hand in my own bloodied one, already dragging her back to the others. When we arrived, we saw that they had all the supplies they could manage and were heading out.

"Let's go aca-bitches!" Amy yelled, pumping her fist into the air and leading the frantic charge to safety. We crashed through the trees and bushes noisily at first, trying to gain distance, and then slowed our pace and focused on stealth. If we wanted to avoid those blind-eyed creatures, we had to be silent. They appeared to make up for their lack of sight with their incredible sense of hearing, and one broken twig could mean the difference between life and death right now. I was still clutching Stacie's hand, and had long since stopped worrying about the blood that was now staining her palm as well as mine. She was shaking slightly, and I squeezed her hand comfortingly.

"It's going to be okay." I whispered into her ear, and she nodded. We covered a lot of ground that night, for we didn't dare stop under the circumstances, and by the morning we realised that we could see the edge of the forest.

"We made it!" Amy cheered, fist-bumping Bumper and Lily whilst I turned to look behind us, biting my lip.

"Bree?" Stacie murmured, stepping into my line of sight. I shook my head.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about Chloe again…" I had to stop talking because I was afraid that I would burst into tears, and Stacie put her arm around me shoulders and brought me into her chest, stroking my back soothingly.

"She's not stupid, Bree, she'll have found a way to survive. You know her, she's the nicest person I've ever met, but she sure knows how to stand up for herself." I chuckled a little at the memories that this comment evoked, one in particular of the time that Chloe had thrown Bumper into a dumpster after an acapella competition, when he had insulted me directly, talking shit about my dad and such.

"You know that she's a survivor. I bet she even managed to find another group; she's very friendly after all." Stacie continued, and I could hear the gentle smile in her voice. She truly believed what she was saying, and I did too - Chloe was a survivor, and I knew that I had to trust that and do what was right for the rest of the group now. I stood up, untangling myself from Stacie's arms before turning to face the group, who were watching me attentively now.

"Last night, we lost Ashley and Denise to the infected. I know that was hard on all of us, but we will not let their memory die. And Chloe… Chloe's been missing for almost a week now, and there's nothing more that we can do except trust that she's okay. She can handle herself as you all know, I'm looking at you Bumper." Everyone laughed a little at this, and I continued, feeling more confident. "So we're going to get the hell out of this forest today, and start making our way East, further from Atlanta and hopefully on our way to safety. It's what Chloe would want, and I have hope that some day soon we will be reunited with her." The others nodded now, murmuring their agreements, and I smiled at them.

"So, let's go! I'm ready to get out of these godforsaken brambles." I grumbled, and we set off once more, finally exiting the forest moments later, reveling in the immediate change in temperature and sunlight concentration.

"This is more like it." Amy sighed contentedly, slipping on a pair of oversized sunglasses that she had hidden somewhere about her person. I didn't want to question it. Following the compass that Donald had on his keychain, we headed East, to the future.


	6. Chapter 6

2 weeks flew by, spent entirely on the road. Thankfully, what with the extra storage space that having the car provided, we had enough supplies to last at least a month longer, and so we were confident that we'd reach a town before then and be able to restock in ample time.

"If not, I can always hunt for us." Jesse had mentioned, trying to sound super-manly. I'd just laughed, although I had to admit that the kid was skilled with a rifle and a rod, and he and dad had always been successful on their hunting or fishing trips. Chloe and I grew increasingly close over these two weeks too, and Jesse was loving every minute of it, primarily because he knew how easy it was to embarrass me, especially in front of my new girlfriend. Still, the emotions tied to what was happening around us still weighed heavily on us all, and I'd often catch Jesse crying silently in the rearview mirror, staring out of the window at the landscape flashing past. Chloe would often cry at night, as we lay together in the back seat. Jesse actually let us switch shifts now, although Chloe found that she couldn't really sleep once I had to get up for mine at any point, and so we spent our shifts awake together, smooshed up in the front seat, perching on each other's laps and kissing as much as we liked. It was a peaceful time in truth, and when we could block out the memories of what we'd left behind so recently, we spent it laughing and growing steadily closer. I was still as emotionally closed off as ever, however, and though I freely expressed my utter adoration for the beautiful girl that I had come to be with, I never let her see me cry. Sometimes a tear or two would slip from my eye that she would hurriedly kiss away, but she never saw the awful, throat-shredding sobs that wracked through my whole body, leaving me shaking and cold by the side of the road. When I felt them coming on, a memory that I couldn't quite suppress, I would pull over and walk off into the shrubbery, crying until it was over, and then making my way back to the car as if nothing had ever happened. Of course, I knew that the evidence of these episodes was always clear in my red, puffy eyes and shaking hands, but Chloe never questioned it. She knew it was the one thing that I had trouble with, and I myself knew that Jesse must have spoken to her the first time it happened, understanding my reclusive nature more than she did at that stage. I was really grateful to him for that. I knew that I'd have to talk to her about it eventually, but for the time being I would keep pulling over and retreating into myself instead of letting her hold me as I wept, just like I did for her almost every night. So long as she understood, then things would be okay. And so we fell into a routine, and we started to feel safe again too. Because we were driving all day, we didn't really encounter any of the infected, (although once or twice I was forced to run one down as it threw itself towards the car), and none had found us at night so far. Of course, that was a lucky streak that was sure to soon run out. That, and the petrol supply. We had started with six spare canisters, one from the shed and five from the garage, and we had one and a half left. I brought up the issue with the others over dinner one evening.

"We need to find somewhere to stop for petrol, even if it means raiding someone's garage or something. We're running low, and I don't want to have to leave the car." Jesse frowned, and took out the road map. He'd been trying to plot our approximate journey based on what few road-signs we'd spotted, and from this he gauged that there should be a little town coming up in a couple of miles.

"If we can make it there, we can get petrol and more food supplies. We'll get there tomorrow if we keep our speeds consistent." He exclaimed, seemingly relieved. Chloe and I studied the map ourselves.

"Will we stop there for good do you think?" Chloe asked, and I shook my head slowly.

"No, it's not far enough out from Atlanta or the forest for me. I think we should go further, just to be safe. I mean, unless we can't get enough supplies to cover the distance, in which case we might have to make do." Chloe and Jesse both voiced their agreement, and we started packing up our things for the night.

"Who wants first watch tonight?" I asked. Chloe decided that she would take it as Jesse was already yawning, and this meant both of us squishing into the front seat, Chloe on my lap whilst I attempted to doze lightly. She hummed a tune quietly, playing with my hair, and all the while I could hear Jesse snoring behind me. Suddenly, a much worse sound reached our ears.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Chloe stopped her movements, tensing completely in my arms.

"What was that..?" she whispered. Then, it came again.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"It's… it's something on the back of the car I think?" I replied, sitting up slightly to listen better. Jesse was still snoring loudly in the back, and Chloe reached across to prod him awake.

"Uh, what?" He mumbled, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"There's a weird noise coming from the back of the car, be quiet for a minute." Chloe hissed, and we all sat there, straining to hear something, anything, in the darkness. And then, all of a sudden, something slammed into the window beside Jesse, causing him to leap away to the other side, already pulling the axe from the pack on the floor. I pulled the handgun from my belt as we stared in horror at the infected being that was pressing its face up against the window, dragging what was left of its fingernails down the glass.

"What do we do?!" Chloe whimpered, and I struggled to adjust my position in the drivers seat. I was sat with my legs tucked up underneath me, and with the weight of Chloe atop them, I couldn't move to reach the pedals.

"I need to drive us away, now." I grunted, finally freeing my legs and swinging them down to the pedals. In one quick motion, I started the engine and sped away, leaving the infected screeching beside the road, loping after us a little way before giving up and turning back to shuffle into the forest. Chloe shuddered, and tightened her arms around my neck. Jesse quickly made room for her in the back seat, and she clambered over, freeing up my arms and vision considerably.

"Beca, we should stop now. It's so dark and misty, we might miss the turning for the town in these conditions." He remarked. I scowled.

"Okay, but I don't like it, there's something-" another screech cut through my words, pulling our attention to the left side of the car, where a large group of about thirteen infected were sprinting out of the woods towards our slowing car. I suddenly noticed more breaking out from the undergrowth ahead of us, and cursed, putting my foot down on the accelerator once more.

"There are hundreds of them! I can't stop, I have to keep going." I said through gritted teeth, bracing myself as we ran into one of the creatures that had tried to intercept the vehicle, sending it flying off into the foliage. Several more were pouring out of the trees alongside us, and the numbers were growing even as we drove away.

"Chloe, look out of that side and I'll take this one, we have to try to spot the turning." Jesse yelled frantically, pressing his face up against the window.

"Jesse, I hate to say it but… you do realise that this amount of infected this close to a town can only mean one thing, right?" Chloe spoke quietly, her voice almost a dejected whisper. Jesse clenched his fists.

"But we were so close! We were so fucking close to being okay!" He was crying tears of pure frustration now, and I watched on grimly as Chloe placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly as he finally gave into his emotions, and began sobbing into the back of my seat. Then, she began to sing. I knew that she'd been part of that acapella group back in college, but I hadn't heard her sing until this point - her voice was incredible. She was singing one of my personal favourites, Titanium by David Guetta, and I couldn't help but smile at the way in which she made the song sound so melancholy and gorgeous. She really made it her own. After a verse, I joined in, adding the low harmony, and she met my eyes in the mirror and grinned at me, looking shocked and pleasantly surprised at my own singing voice. Jesse's sobs were fading out to whimpers and sniffs now as we reached the bridge, reveling in the sound that we created together, and as we brought the song to a close, still smiling to each other, he lifted his head and smiled too.

"That was beautiful." He sniffed, wiping at his face with the back of one hand.

"Thanks, I try." I joked, which thankfully got a laugh out of him, and therefore lightened the mood in the car. Still, as this died down again I resumed my thinking; the town we had been aiming for was gone, lost to the infected. We only had enough petrol for a few hundred more miles, and we had yet to figure out where we could try next. Still, there was always hope, right? And as I met Chloe's eyes in the mirror again and saw the smile within them, I knew that she was my hope for now and so long as I had her, I would have something to believe in. (God this apocalypse has made me cheesy.)

We were running dangerously low on supplies. Our food supplies could probably last another week if we rationed them carefully, but I wasn't promising myself anything. I knew that the group was becoming increasingly worried about our situation, and I had to admit that I was too. We were out of the forest now, and heading East. We hadn't wanted to risk the roads as they were still too close to the woodland for any of our liking, and so we crossed into the fields beyond and hiked across them day after dreary day. We tightened up our nightly defense, not wanting a repeat of what had happened just two weeks ago, with Ashley and Denise. But we couldn't stop the feeling of being on edge constantly, and as a result, we were at each other's throats more than usual.

"Bumper, I swear to god I'm going to punch you in the dick if you don't _shut. up_." Amy grumbled one night, as we sat around our tiny campfire. Bumper had been making irritating jokes again, and I could tell that she was about to snap. Most of us were really. We hadn't seen anything but the same bleak landscape for days on end, and the heat was almost unbearable at times. The food was crap, even though we were grateful to still have any, and I myself was still decidedly unhappy at having left the woods without knowing for sure what had happened to Chloe. I decided to speak up.

"Listen, all of you. I know this has been a tough couple of weeks, and yeah it will probably get worse, I won't lie about that to make you feel better. But the last thing we need is to be at each other's throats constantly! We're surrounded by enemies, we should be sticking together in order to stay safe, you know that. We have to keep pushing forwards." I could see the relenting agreement on their faces as I glanced across the fire to all of them, finally landing on Stacie, who looked like she was about to cry. I made my way over to her calmly, before wrapping her into a tight embrace as the others turned back to their own conversations.

"You okay?" I mumbled into the top of her head, and I felt her shrug.

"I guess, yeah." She sighed.

"Wanna talk about it?" she huffed slightly, and I took that as a no.

"Okay, well I'm here if you do." I began to get up, but then she grabbed my arms and pulled me back down so that I was sat with my arms around her once more.

"Bree, could you… could you stay with me?" I barely heard this tiny whispered plea, but I got the message and happily snuggled closer, tightening my arms as she relaxed back into them with another sigh.

"Of course." I replied. We stayed like that until morning, and then everyone packed up and set off again, still heading in the direction of the rising sun. We were all as exhausted and anxious as ever, but there was still a glimmer of hope in our hearts. Surely we had to find somewhere safe soon. Surely.


	7. Chapter 7

"Do you see anywhere yet?" I called over my shoulder, to where Jesse was stood with his head and shoulders out of the sunroof, scanning our surroundings for potential places to look for supplies as we drove on. We had been running on fumes for an hour or so now, and I was worried. Not only did the noise of the car draw in the infected, meaning that if we stopped suddenly we'd probably be attacked soon after, but leaving the car behind at this stage seemed like a death-wish in itself. Chloe was sat in the passenger seat beside me still pouring over the map desperately.

"If we could make it about 150 miles more we'd make it to this little intersection here, there's bound to be something like a gas station there." She was saying, when Jesse suddenly fell back into the car, beaming and yelling.

"GUYS! I see something up ahead, a gas station! Turn right here."

"Are you sure? Does it look safe?" I asked, disbelief clouding my sense of overwhelming relief.

"Yes Beca, just turn right okay!" He laughed, and Chloe voiced her agreement, also grinning.

"We're going to be okay!" she whispered, and I bit my lip and nodded, still wary but at the same time rejoicing along with them. I turned off as the station came into view, and pulled onto the forecort carefully, already looking around for signs of the infected. It seemed eerily quiet as we cautiously exited the car, weapons at the ready. I had given Chloe the handgun after a quick explanation of how it worked, and myself held the rifle, pockets once again loaded with spare rounds. Jesse was still favouring the axe, currently resting it on one shoulder as we crept out from the car and moved to the pump, checking if it would still release the petrol that we so desperately needed. Thankfully the mechanism hadn't yet shut off, and the petrol flowed freely. We topped up the tank and the six spare canisters, all relaxing now that we had found what we needed and seemed to be safe. This was short-lived, however, and as we laughed and began to make our way to the empty shop itself to check for supplies, they came. The first of the infected launched itself through the glass door ahead of us, screeching wildly. I yelled to the others to get back to the car and fired a shot, hitting it right in the forehead as it flew through the scattering cloud of broken glass, mouth agape and eyes rolling. It stumbled to a halt, reeling backwards with the force of the shot. I began to run backwards towards the others, who were now by the car, when I heard Chloe scream, and I turned to see her struggling to batter back the arms of an infected.

"Chloe!" I cried, sprinting across, watching in horror as both she and Jesse were attacked. Jesse was hacking his attacker back with the axe, and as I approached I fired into the head and shoulders of the one attacking Chloe, allowing her to gain the upper hand and push it back. More of them were hurtling towards us now, from out behind the building, and the ones that had already fallen were already re-animating.

"Are you alright? You've got to get in the car, okay?" I breathed, clutching at Chloe's waist as I stared into her eyes. I could see the pure terror within them, and I knew that she wasn't up to fighting these things off. We had a better chance of escape if she was out of the way. She looked reluctant to leave me, but then a creature hit me side on, and I pushed her into the car, slamming the door behind her as I fought my way over to Jesse, who was being overrun. If I could just get to him and get us both safely into the car, we could escape. The problem was that they just kept on coming, and not just in the sense that they wouldn't stay down. A steady stream of them were pouring out from somewhere or other, and they were unrelenting, as always. Jesse and I were backed up against the car, trying desperately to fight them off. In the car, I glimpsed Chloe with her head in her hands, shoulders shaking with sobs, and I longed to hold her through them, but there was no way for me and Jesse to get into the car without being bitten. One of us could cover the other, but then there'd be one of us left alone. I was actually starting to consider if I'd rather die from a bite or a bullet when I heard a new sound. It sounded like the demented war-cry of an australian war-lord, and every creature in the immediate vicinity of it stopped completely to look to the source of the sound, including me and Jesse. Over on the opposite side of the forecort, a blonde woman was still yelling and waving her arms crazily, and behind her a group of about five others all wielding sharpened sticks were stood in loose formation, apparently ready to take on the mass of creatures who were just now beginning to lope across to them, grunting and screeching as they went. Jesse looked to me now, eyes wide with confusion.

"Who… who are they? They saved us!" He was right, the calls of the blonde woman had removed the threat of the creatures, but now of course we had to return the favour.

"Come on you bastards, I've wrestled crocodiles bigger than you! You want a piece of the fat power?" We gaped as they all began to charge the group of infected, cutting them down one by one, and suddenly I had an idea.

"Jesse, you see that truck over there?" I asked, pointing out the large truck sitting beside the building. He nodded.

"Right, you think you can hotwire that? We need to do a driveby, pick all of them up in the back of that truck and get the fuck outta here. Got it? If you can hotwire it then take Chloe in the car, I can do the driveby." He nodded again, already running across to get to work on the truck. I quickly opened the nearest door to the car and reached across to grab Chloe's hand.

"Chloe.. Chloe, it's okay, some people saved us, but now we're going to help them, okay? Jesse's just hotwiring that truck for me and then he's going to get in this car to drive you. I'm going to do a driveby and pick up the other group in the back of the truck, then we can all leave, okay? It's going to be fine, I promise." She looked up now, tears staining her slightly flushed cheeks, and she stared back into my eyes for a minute, before becoming distracted by something through the windshield.

"Oh… oh my god…" she whispered, sitting up and leaning further forward now to get a better look.

"What?"

"It's them!" She screamed, pointing desperately to the group who were currently fending off the army of infected. "It's my friends! I have to go help them!" She started trying to push past me, and I stopped her.

"Chloe! I know you want to help them, but you have to let me get on with the plan, if you're out there, in danger, I won't be able to concentrate and someone will end up getting hurt. I can't risk that being you. Just wait here, Jesse will be back any minute and I'll pick your friends up, then when we're somewhere safe you can see them again, okay?" She nodded slowly, sighing in resignation, and just then Jesse ran up behind me, panting heavily and beheading an infected that had stumbled away from the group.

"It's running. Go!" He clambered across into the drivers seat as I squeezed Chloe's hand one last time, before sprinting across to the truck, gun ready in my belt. I was soon in the cab of the truck and revving up the engine before driving towards the group and swinging around to where they were now backed up against a short fence. I leant out of the window that had long since been shattered, and yelled over to them.

"I'M GONNA DRIVE PAST SLOWLY, THE BACK IS OPEN - GET IN!" one of the girls, a taller blonde, nodded and called to the others, who began to ready themselves as I drew nearer. I had no idea if I had got them all as I drove past their group, but suddenly I heard someone banging on the partition from the back, and I sped up now, also hearing the back being closed. In my mirrors, I could see that in fact by some miracle I had picked them all up, and the mass of the infected was now just a milling clump of confused creatures, with no immediate source of prey. I flashed my fog lights at Jesse, who started up the car engine and drove off down the road, with me following close behind. I couldn't quite believe that my plan had worked, but I wasn't arguing as I pushed down on the slightly resistant accelerator pedal and sped away as fast as the beat up old truck could manage. Fifteen minutes of driving at about 80mph later, I figured it was safe enough to stop, and I waved out of the window to Jesse to signal that I was pulling over. Soon, I was dismounting from the cab and Jesse and Chloe were running from the car to meet me. I had just leapt down from the last step when her body collided with mine, her arms pulling me into her as tightly as she could manage.

"Hi." I exhaled into her neck as she held me, reveling in the feeling of her heartbeat jumping through the veins closest to my own. We were both still alive. Thank god.

"I'm sorry I froze up back there, Beca. You gave me a gun, I should have… I mean, I know… I-" I shook my head, cutting her off.

"Don't. Don't apologise, there's nothing wrong with not wanting to kill them, I understand. I mean, I had to 'kill' my own parents for fuck's sake, I know how hard it is, and I get it. You don't ever have to lay a hand on anything for the rest of your life so long as I'm around; I promise I'll protect you."

"Thank you." I could hear the start of a smile in her voice, and allowed my own lips to relax into one too.

"Right, so how about we go say hello to your friends over there?" She pulled back out of my arms now, turning her head to look at the group of people now crowded around Jesse, who was animatedly explaining something or other to them. Suddenly, one of them glanced across at us and spotted Chloe. Her eyes grew wide and immediately filled with tears, and I winced as she shrieked and began sprinting over.

"CHLOE!" The two girls crashed together into a massive hug, both now sobbing almost hysterically.

"Oh my god, Bree, I thought I'd never see you again, I can't believe we found you!" The others were now also rushing over, one of them coming over to me and shaking my hand with an air of deep gratitude.

"I'm Stacie. I just wanted to thank you, for everything really. Saving Chloe… she means a lot to all of us, she's like our sister and we love her. Especially Aubrey, who's been taking her disappearance hard. That and saving our asses back there. I know we stepped in to help you first, but in truth even if that hadn't happened I bet we'd have walked straight into all those infected. Besides, you could have just left us there. So thank you." I was shocked at this sudden influx of information from a stranger, but smiled and shrugged good-naturedly.

"Any time. Thanks for helping in the first place, we were screwed until you showed." Jesse was now at my elbow, tapping my shoulder and gesturing that I talk to him a little way off, over by the cab of the truck.

"Sorry, I'll be right back." I apologised to Stacie, who rejoined her friends as I made my way over to where Jesse now stood fidgeting nervously.

"What's up?"

"Uh, I was just wondering what the plan was from now on.. Like, are we gonna group together with these people?" I glanced over my shoulder to where Chloe was now talking to the group, pointing to me and Jesse every so often. I sighed, and looked back to Jesse, who was still exuding a sense of nervousness.

"I hadn't really thought that far ahead. I guess I'll need to talk to Chloe about it but yeah, being in a bigger group could be helpful. That was part of my original plan, to band together with some other travelers, safety in numbers and all that." He nodded distractedly, eyeing up the two male members of the other group.

"Those guys kinda set me on edge is all. I don't know what it is about them…" I nodded.

"I know what you mean. Well, I'll ask Chloe about them, and we can keep an eye on them. Remember, they only had pointy sticks against the infected; we're way better off for weapons. If I have to pull a gun on them, so be it, at least then they'll know who's in charge around here." Jesse seemed a little more relaxed at that thought, and I decided that it was time to introduce myself to the others. We made our way back over slowly, only to be met halfway by an excited Chloe, who was beaming and waving her arms wildly.

"Beca! Come and say hi to everyone, they can't wait to meet you!"

"This is starting to feel like a weirdly formal dinner party." I laughed as I allowed her to drag me over to the group who were now staring at me intently.

"Chloe, you're dating a midget." chuckled a blonde woman who I recognised to be the one who had been yelling at the infected earlier.

"Nice to meet you too." I smirked, used to the jokes about my height as even my younger brother had been way taller than me for years now.

"Red's been telling us a lot about you. Apparently you're a pretty decent shot?" I opened my mouth to reply, when Jesse cut in.

"Better than decent, she's awesome with a gun. Show 'em Becs." He grinned at me, raising an eyebrow. I blushed, scanning our surroundings for a target.

"Uh, okay… you see that acorn hanging down off that branch over there?" I pointed to the thing in question, and the others murmured an acknowledgement.

"Okay, well keep your eyes on it." I swallowed hard, took aim and steadied my breathing. Once I was satisfied that my hand was completely steady, I took one last breath in and fired just before the exhale. Seconds later, there was a crack that echoed back off the trees towards us where we stood a little way off by the roadside, and the acorn disappeared, crashing down into the undergrowth a moment later. There was a stunned silence.

"Dude…" One of the guys whispered, turning back to look me up and down incredulously.

I just shrugged and blushed again.

"I've just had practice. So, I guess now we need to discuss what happens next…" I trailed off, looking to Chloe for help. Before she had a chance to speak up, the tall blonde that she had been stood close beside since they had first been reunited stepped forward and with a commanding air, spoke.

"Well, seeing as Chloe is our friend and apparently now your girlfriend, I see no other alternative than to join together to make one big group. We've got two vehicles now, and we can split our supplies, although what we have is next to nothing. Still, we can help with defense and scouting for supplies. Do you have any objection to us joining forces?" I shook my head quickly, slightly intimidated by her piercing gaze.

"No, not at all, that's what I had in mind, actually. We just need to agree on where we go next; Jesse, Chloe and I had been aiming East, anywhere away from Atlanta. Our main goal was to find a small farming town somewhere remote. We were thinking that somewhere like that is less likely to be infected. What do you think?" The blonde nodded, a small smile curling at her lips.

"We had the same sort of idea; head away from Atlanta. Your idea to get to a farming village sounds like a good plan, I think we can all get on board with that. Right guys?" The others all nodded in agreement, and Chloe squeezed my hand, evidently pleased with how things were going.

"Great. Well, I say that we should keep moving until dusk, get as many miles between us and that lot back there as possible before settling somewhere for the night. We usually stop somewhere an hour or so before sunset, cook whatever food we're going to eat over a small campfire and then travel as far as we can before the sun actually sets so that we can sleep in relative safety. That way we can have a fire without being in danger the whole night. Chloe, do you still want to be in the car with me and Jesse? I mean, I get it if you don't-"

"No no, I'll stay with you and Jesse in the car, if that's okay Aubrey?" The tall blonde, who I now took to be the famous Aubrey Posen that Chloe had been telling me about, nodded curtly, and announced that she'd drive the truck.

"Aww, come on Aubrey, I totally called dibs on driving!" The australian girl whined, crossing her arms. Aubrey merely rolled her eyes.

"Amy, there's absolutely no way I'd trust you to drive that truck with all of us in it, even if the world wasn't overrun with zombies!" Everyone laughed as Amy huffed, and then we all dispersed and got into our respective vehicles. I pulled out ahead of the truck, leading the way down the otherwise deserted highway, turning up the latest CD that I had been listening to and singing along for the first time in what seemed like forever. Chloe joined in, her hand finding my knee in the rapidly growing shadows as we sped along, finally stopping for dinner and then later to rest. Aubrey and I, apparently the unspoken leaders of the group, reconvened in the back of the truck whilst the others settled down to sleep to organise the watch schedule.

"Your people look pretty exhausted Aubrey, we can handle tonight. We've been sleeping a lot safer than you for a while, it's no trouble." I began, and I noticed her instant relief at the offer.

"Thank you. That would be much appreciated. As for supplies, would it be possible to keep half of what you have in the truck in case we ever get split up for any reason? That way at least we wouldn't be completely screwed." I laughed, and nodded.

"Sure thing. Jesse and I will bring it across in the morning." I turned to leave, and Aubrey quickly grabbed my wrist, stopping me momentarily.

"Beca, I just… thank you for taking care of Chloe. She's my best friend, and I'm so happy that she's okay, and that's all thanks to you. So, thank you. Besides, she seems so much happier now that she's got you, she just came out of a really abusive relationship before all this happened so I'm glad she's found you. But if you hurt her, I swear I won't hesitate to run you over with this very truck, you hear me?" I gulped, and nodded again. Aubrey seemed lovely, but damn, she sure could be terrifying. I hopped down from the back of the truck, closing the doors as quietly as possible behind me and using a bit of fishing wire that had been in the breast pocket of my jacket, tied them shut. Hopefully that would keep them secure in the event of an infected stumbling across us in the night and attacking the truck before any of us in the car could reach the doors. The sun had now disappeared completely on the horizon, leaving nothing but fat, blotchy clouds dragging across the sky as it darkened. The air was cool, and I took a moment to lean against the edge of the truck and inhale deeply, reveling in silence. My surroundings looked dead, and it struck me that it was odd how only now, in the face of such constant danger, I had become so hyper-aware of the state of what lay around me. When driving, I noticed every bird that soared across my windshield, felt every bump in the road shudder through my bones and that in turn reminded me of my incurable fragility as a human being. I didn't even notice her slip towards me until the last of the fading light shot through her hair, the sudden flash of red enough to break my reverie.

"Woah, hey Chlo, sorry I was miles away." I sighed, taking her hand. I could just about make out her half-smile in the darkness.

"I could tell. You coming in?" I nodded, and she tugged at my hand, leading me back to the car where we resumed our regular position squished up in the front seat of the car, Jesse already snoring as he lay stretched out across the back.

"I can't believe we found them, Becs. I keep thinking that surely I'll wake up tomorrow and it will all have been a dream." Chloe whispered from my lap, her hand resting on my cheek lightly.

"Yeah, it's kinda surreal. I mean, what are the odds?" She hummed in agreement.

"Bree likes you, you know." I chuckled.

"Yeah, she told me that she's glad you found me, although she did mention that if I ever hurt you she'd run me over with the truck." She giggled now, and I tightened my arms around her.

"She also mention that you just got out of a … a bad relationship. I just want you to know that you mean a lot to me Chloe and I would never.. I could never treat you like that. I hope you know how special you are to me."

"I know. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about that but I promise, when I'm ready-"

"No don't apologise, it's alright. I don't have to know anything you don't want me to, I understand if you aren't ready to tell me now or ever. There's no point in letting the past rule your life, that's what I think anyway." She didn't reply for a few minutes and I thought she'd fallen asleep. Then, I heard a faint whisper in the darkness.

"I love you." I couldn't see her face but I knew she was crying, and as I reached a hand up to wipe away the tears, I allowed myself to breathe freely for the first time in a long time.

"I love you too."

**AN: I figured I'd give you a nice chapter for Christmas. Speaking of which, happy christmas to you all, I hope you have a wonderful holiday whatever your situation! This chapter seems too good to be true really, but don't worry it won't be so fairytale-happy for long ;) Anyway enjoy it, sorry it's been a while since I last updated but I've been busy with gigs, school-work and christmas stuff. I'll try to get the next chapter done asap. **


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning Jesse and I set about sorting through our supplies in order to divide them up, whilst Chloe talked with her friends about what had transpired in the month they'd been apart. I kept catching snippets of her cheerful stories, grinning as my own memories were triggered by her words.

"...She's pretty good at I-spy, yeah, but whenever we played cards I totally beat her and Jesse at every game."

"What is she going on about over there? Anyone would think she was preaching a sermon with the way they're all looking at her." Jesse snorted, handing me a couple of cans. I laughed.

"Who knows. I'm just happy that they're all back together again; it's great seeing Chloe's mind at rest like that." Jesse nodded in agreement, and we turned back to sorting supplies.

"Okay that looks to be about half and half… what do you think, Becs?" I bit at my lip thoughtfully, squinting slightly and tilting my head to the side like a photographer.

"I think so, yeah. Anyway, hopefully it we won't get separated so it won't matter anyway, right?" Jesse smiled and together we packed the supplies back into the two bags, one bag containing half staying in the back seat of our car and the other the back of the truck, guarded by Amy, or as she apparently preferred, 'Fat Amy'.

"So twig bitches like you don't say it behind my back." She winked at me, patting the bag lovingly.

"I won't let anything happen to this, shortstack, I haven't had a decent bite to eat in weeks so you can count on me." She saluted me as I chuckled and backed out of the truck, already searching for Chloe. Most of the others were in the truck now, and I could see that she and Aubrey were the only ones left outside, talking animatedly by the cab. Chloe looked excited about something (nothing new there then), and Aubrey as though she were trying desperately to deny something, but soon after I began watching them they both sighed and broke away from each other, Aubrey climbing into the cab of the truck and Chloe hopping back over to me.

"What was all that about?" her brow furrowed, and she huffed.

"I'm not sure yet, I can't get Aubrey to admit to anything yet. I'll tell you when I know." My eyebrows went up a little.

"Okaaay… Well, I guess we should head out then, huh?" confusion still clouded my tone, but Chloe either didn't notice or simply brushed it off for she just nodded and went to the car where Jesse was already waiting in the back seat. Whatever was going on with Aubrey I figured was none of my business anyway, and according to Chloe I'd find out soon enough. I had no reason to doubt Chloe's weaseling tactics when it came to extracting information, having been subject to them myself far too many times. And so, with one of the sighs that seemed to frequent everyone's lips nowadays I retreated to the car, watching out of the corner of my eye as one of the guys, Donald, slid the doors of the truck closed with a wave. They seemed like a nice bunch of people, but I intended to ask Chloe for a bit more detail on this part of the journey. Prior to meeting them unexpectedly, I hadn't wanted to pry too much in what came to be a touchy subject for her, as leaving the place where her friends had been was hard on her, and yesterday she had been too overwhelmed and exhausted to answer even the simplest of questions coherently, so I had yet to learn much about her friends. All I knew so far was that the girls had all been in an acapella group together in college, and the boys were part of the rival group. Hopefully, today would prove fruitful in terms of information concerning the others.

Twenty minutes later and I was completely clued in, thanks to Chloe, the perpetually eager puppy-dog of a girl who was close to pretty much everyone, or so it seemed.

"Well, Aubrey is my best friend, as you know, and we were rooming together at Barden. As we're seniors, this year we were the co-captains of the Bellas, that acapella group I mentioned. She's amazing, she's so lovely, although she can come across as bossy and cold when she gets too nervous about things. See, her dad was always very demanding of her and it took its toll. But once you get to know her I guarantee you'll love her! Then there's Stacie, the tall brunette and aca-sex goddess. And I do mean that in a literal sense, she's very… active? Yeah. She's sweet though, she's been really great helping Bree out whilst I've been gone. She's a Bella newbie this year, along with the rest of the girls, but she's confident so we've all got to know her pretty quickly. Then there's Fat Amy, who you already know. There's not much else I can say about her except take everything she says with a pinch of salt… Lily. She's the quiet one, quiet but deadly we all say. Don't underestimate her. As for Donald and Bumper, they're… well, they're not bad guys. Donald is nice, Bumper has always been a bit of a dick but apparently since this all began he hasn't been too bad, just irritating." Jesse had sat forward at this, evidently still intrigued by the other guys.

"I just thought something seemed a bit off about them…" he mused, and Chloe shrugged.

"I don't really know either of them well enough to judge on that really."

"Didn't you mention two other girls before?" I asked, and Chloe froze, her muscles visibly tensing.

"I.. uh, yeah. Denise and Ashley. They… they didn't.. t-they-" I realised that she was choking back a sob and reached out an arm to comfort her.

"Hey, hey ssh it's okay. I'm sorry, you don't have to talk about it." I understood that Chloe was sensitive. She hadn't yet been able to take on any of the infected, and whenever Jesse and I discussed anything related to it she would become visibly saddened. She had nearly cried when I had first explained what had happened to our parents. She was definitely fragile and beautifully so, like a flower in the midst of a warzone, somehow untainted by the bloodshed around her. I knew, therefore, that it was my job to keep protecting her, at least until she was ready to face up to her emotions and get tough. Not that I particularly wanted that of her; I couldn't imagine a cold-hearted Chloe, not when everything about her screamed warmth and affection. No, I was perfectly content to shield her for all eternity, if that was how it had to be. I definitely couldn't let anything hurt her, not when I was slowly starting to realise that she was the best thing that had ever happened to me.

The day passed slowly and silently, Jesse complaining of a headache early on that forced me to turn off my music and continue on in stifling quiet. Chloe had been subdued ever since our conversation that morning, and I couldn't find the words to lift her up again. I tried once or twice to coax her into a game of I-spy, but she wasn't in the mood to oblige.

"Sorry Beca, I just don't feel up to it right now." I sighed, plastering as much of a smile as I could muster across my face.

"It's okay, I'm just trying to cheer you up. Seeing you down is kinda weird, it's like seeing the sun reach up and switch itself off in the middle of the day." She blinked at me, and I blushed a little.

"Jeez, listen to me, getting all poetic. You're poisoning me with your English Major thing." This elicited a small smile, and I felt instantly relieved to see it. There was something about seeing that same sun come out from behind the dark clouds again that always lifted my heart, as if I had been afraid that for some reason I would never lay eyes upon it again.

Finally, as the night began to draw in with frightening pace, we pulled over to eat. The truck had been tailing us all day, and so I had become accustomed to its heavy whirring and rumbling, but as Chloe, Jesse and I got out to greet the others, I realised that it was dangerously loud. Aubrey finally shut off the engine and clambered out of the cab, dropping to the floor with a groan as the others began to shuffle out from the back.

"Next time someone is keeping me company in there, that was hell." She muttered, rubbing her neck, and Stacie quickly bounded to her side, smiling slyly.

"I might as well take one for the team. Need a hand?" with a slow, deliberate wink, she gently removed Aubrey's hands and began massaging her neck, causing the blonde to sigh deeply and relax into the motions.

"Woah, get a room." Bumper snorted, brushing past roughly. Stacie rolled her eyes at this and Aubrey scowled at his back. I glanced at Chloe, who shrugged a little as if to say 'I told you so."

We began to sort out what we'd be eating that night, Jesse, Aubrey and I discovering that we hardly had enough to feed the group for the next few days, when suddenly there came that jarring, gut-wrenching screeching sound from off in the distance. Everyone froze instantly, what mild chatter there had been sinking into silence as we stood, ears pricked in the gloom.

"Where did that come from?" Jesse asked, moving to stand by my side. I looped my arm around Chloe's waist and pulled her close into my other side, glancing at her anxiously.

"I… I'm not sure." We waited for another agonising moment, and then it rang out again, apparently much closer than before. I decided to take action.

"Right, get back in the vehicles everyone, now. We have to get out of here." I hissed, already walking back round to the car with Chloe and Jesse close behind. Aubrey stared after me for a moment, brow furrowing, until Stacie took her hand and led her to the cab of the truck and helping her in. The others were all soon safely in the back of the truck, and when we were ready we both started up our engines and pulled away, picking up speed quickly.

"That was too close." I breathed, my heart still racing even though we hadn't had any direct confrontation with the infected. It was enough that they had nearly set upon us whilst we were completely unaware that struck me cold. Chloe was slightly pale in the seat beside me, her hand gripping my knee with a fierce intensity that only such a touch could convey.

"It's okay. We're okay." I tried to reassure her, although I still couldn't seem to shake the fear from my voice. What was it that still set me on edge? Behind us, I could still hear the roar of the truck's engine, and then it dawned on me.

"Oh. Oh god. It's the truck."

"What? What are you talking about?" Jesse suddenly leant forward in his seat, and Chloe turned to face me, eyes wide.

"The truck, we've become so used to the engine noise but just listen; it's so loud it must be drawing in every infected within a 30 mile radius, especially as we're the only moving vehicles on these roads. I couldn't put my finger on what was freaking me out, but now I know, it's the truck. As soon as we stop, whatever's tailing us will catch up and attack. So stopping with the truck is like asking for an attack."

"Oh my god." Chloe murmured, her face a few shades paler than before, her hands trembling.

"What are we going to do?" Jesse spoke with a sense of desperation that made me want to cry, I guess because it reminded me of how much was at stake, and how much rested on me.

"Uh… I… I-" I was interrupted by a body smashing into the side of the car, causing it to swerve dramatically. Cursing, I struggled to bring it back under control, Chloe's shrieks shooting right through my head and making it harder to breathe. Once we were driving in a straight line again, I glanced in my rearview mirror and was horrified to see that the truck was no longer behind us.

"Shit." I gasped, slamming on the brakes and doing a U turn as fast as I could manage. We sped back to where I could soon make out the truck stopped in the middle of the road, a couple of infected launching themselves at the sides as well as the windows of the cab. One of them was latched onto the windscreen wipers and refusing to budge from the windshield, which I guessed was why they had been forced to stop. More of the infected were already loping out from the trees alongside the road to join in, and I could feel myself beginning to panic. Forcing my hands to remain steady, I took out the handgun and loaded it, checking the rounds and making sure that I had spare mags in each available pocket. I handed Jesse the shotgun and spare rounds, and Chloe took a hammer, although I knew she wouldn't use it.

"Okay, here's the plan. Jesse, you take out those infected on the sides, I'll take out the ones on the cab. Chloe, stay here and guard our half of the stuff. Try to stay in the car, okay?" She looked reluctant at this.

"Beca, I know I'm averse to fighting any of these… things, but I hate feeling so useless! I'm not some damsel in distress."

"I know, but you are being helpful by staying here and watching our backs, I promise." She sighed an nodded in resignation as Jesse and I slowly got out from the car, moving so that the hood was at our backs. Then, we opened fire on the infected, quickly clearing those attacking the vehicle.

"Cover me!" I yelled, sprinting across to the cab and hoisting myself up so that I could reach the dangling leg of the infected that had been on the windshield, quickly shooting it a second time straight through the forehead, and throwing its body to the side. I felt a shot brush past me and looked over my shoulder to see another falling behind me that Jesse had just taken down. I grinned at him as I ran back across, and signaling for Aubrey to follow, we got back in the car and started driving again. We drove all night, not daring to stop until finally dawn broke, and I pulled over into a field just off the main highway. Leaving Jesse and a sleeping Chloe in the car, I ran across to the cab and got in before the others could leave.

"What's going on?" Aubrey began, but I just moved to the partition and banged a fist on it, alerting the others in the back.

"Guys, don't get out until we tell you too, okay?" I heard Amy grumbling something in response and sighed, turning back to Aubrey and Stacie, who were looking at me with terror in their eyes.

"Seriously Beca, what's happening?"

"The truck. It's loud and it's drawing in the infected from everywhere we pass. Basically as soon as we stop we're gonna get attacked." Aubrey dropped her head into her hands at this, and Stacie placed a hand on her back in between her shoulderblades, making soothing noises.

"Bree, it's going to be okay. Beca will sort it out." I bit my lip. All these people were counting on me, and I hadn't the faintest idea what I was doing. I hadn't from the start, and come to think of it, it did seem utterly ridiculous that I, the tiny college-dropout wannabe DJ was in charge of this whole group of people. Jesse was a med student for christ's sake, Chloe an English Major and apparently Aubrey was studying Law; so what was I doing leading this lot? They were all on their way to owning little scrolls of paper that they could later frame to prove that they were all way smarter than me, and what did I have to that effect? Well, right now I guess I could shoot well, that was about it. In fairness to myself we hadn't done so badly up until now, but this truck dilemma… I didn't know where to begin with sorting it out. Aubrey and Stacie were staring at me expectantly now, and through the blood-spattered glass of the windshield I could also see Chloe and Jesse's eyes fixed on me, as if the whole world had stopped to stare at me as I tried desperately to set my thoughts into motion. I just needed one little idea to save us all, but I was out of ideas and the weight of their gazes, their hopes and their breathing was forcing tears up into my eyes, which I blinked back furiously.

"Beca?" Aubrey asked in a quiet voice, leaning across Stacie slightly to peer into my face. I shook my head, exhaling loudly.

"I'm so sorry Aubrey but I really don't know what to do." I could feel it coming up again, the horrible wave of pain and terror that I couldn't let them see. With a muttered apology, I turned in the seat and leapt out of the cab, not bothering with the stairs and landing hard on the tarmac in a way that grazed my knees and the palms of my hands. I didn't notice it at the time, however, and as I sprinted off into the trees that bordered the road, I hear Aubrey and Stacie shout after me, soon followed by Jesse's hushed tones and the quiet sound of Chloe crying, which only made my tears fall faster. I ran until those sounds were gone, and then I curled up against the half-hollowed out trunk of a tree and clutching the handgun with my finger grazing the trigger, I collapsed in on myself and let the emotions take hold of me.


	9. Chapter 9

"It's been nearly fifteen minutes, do you think we should go after her? What if she's in trouble? Or lost?" Chloe was fretting, chatting my ear off as I paced up and down grimacing at the line of trees ahead of me. My sister had always been closed off, particularly when it came to negative emotions, and I knew that as always, we simply had to give her space. That being said, I was just as worried as Chloe, if not more.

"If she was in danger you know she's have used her gun, and we'd have heard the shots. As for her being lost, if she was there'd be no sense in us piling in there after her and getting lost too. We're better off just waiting out here for her; she'll come out when she's ready." Chloe sighed and nodded, her tears having dried up a while ago, leaving her eyes red and slightly puffy.

"I just don't understand why she has to run off like that. I know you told me that she has issues with exposing her emotions, not wanting to look weak and all that but… I just wish I could comfort her like she does me. Am I not good enough for her?" I glanced across at her again and saw the true pain etched across her face, and reached over to grip her shoulder.

"Chloe, look at me." Her startling blue eyes fixed on mine, nervous.

"You are the best thing that's ever happened to Beca, hands down. She loves you, we both know that, and you are the only thing keeping her sane right now I can guarantee. You just need to give her time to grow into that. She's never really had a relationship like this with anyone, not even me or our parents, so it will take some time, but she'll get there, for you. Okay?" She nodded again, looking relieved, and I dropped my hand, smiling. I was genuinely extremely happy for the two girls, especially as from the outside I had been able to see the positive impact that Chloe had had on Beca. Beca was a softer person now, more caring than before. She had never been cold-hearted or anything but she had never been like Chloe either, and now she was somewhere in between, the perfect balance and the happiest I had ever seen her. Still, the minutes were steadily creeping by, and I was getting more and more agitated as we waited to see her bashful brown eyes emerging from the darkness, blinking in the dwindling daylight. Beside us, the others remained in the truck, Aubrey and Stacie visibly locked in some deep discussion in the cab, and the occasional bouts of raucous laughter and shrieks from the back of the truck indicating that the others were probably playing some moronic game. Thankfully, no infected had ambushed us at this interval, although I was still alert, holding the shotgun in such a way that indicated I was ready to use it. Chloe, too, still held the hammer, although lightly, as though she was loathe to do so. The head of it lay on the ground with the handle half-leant against her leg, the very end of it gently grasped in her delicate pianist's fingers. I understood now why Beca had always been so insistent on protecting her, on treating her like a fragile princess made of glass; because that's exactly what she was. She was like a child encapsulated within a grown-up body; she was beautiful and careful and stunningly innocent, and she couldn't bear to kill.

"Do you play the piano?" I asked, the words leaping from my throat as if they had been vying for their freedom ever since I had glanced at her hands. She looked at me with confusion.

"Only a little, but I stopped after my mother-" She was cut off by the sound of a gunshot echoing across the trees.

"BECA!" She screamed, dropping the hammer to the ground and sprinting off in the direction of the sound. I set off after her, motioning to Aubrey to stay put in the truck.

"Chloe, wait, come back!" I shouted, struggling to keep up with her desperate pace.

"BECA!" She kept screaming her name, crashing through the bushes frantically. And then, of course, they heard her and one of the infected came careering out from behind a dead tree, screeching and flailing as it made a grab for her. She leapt to the side, holding back another scream as I put a bullet in its head, and then kept on running. I had no choice but to follow her at this point. A second gunshot from Beca's gun rang out from across to our left, and we veered off towards it, Chloe picking up speed as we got closer. Finally, we crashed through into a clearing where we saw Beca stood with her back to a wide tree trunk, shooting back another of the infected. Two bodies lay twitching on either side of her, already starting to reanimate. Her eyes were bloodshot and wild, and she swung round to face us, nearly shooting but letting the gun drop just in time as Chloe rushed forward.

"Ohmygod Beca are you okay?" She sobbed, collapsing into her arms, and Beca began murmuring into her ear. I picked my way over quickly.

"Guys, we have to get back to the car, now." Beca obviously picked up on the urgency in my voice and stooped to grab her gun again, hastily reloading it before nodding to me and leading the charge back towards the road. Chloe and I were breathing quite heavily now, and my arms were starting to burn slightly with the unusual weight of the shotgun pushing into them. We kept moving forward though, and soon we could see the light beginning to change and filter through the trees as we reached the edge. I was beginning to feel relief wash over me, but as we burst through the undergrowth and onto the tarmac of the road, dread took over, dripping down my spine as I looked upon the dozen or so infected that were crawling all over the truck.

"Jesus." Beca whispered, as more sidled out from the trees and joined the others, banging on the sides and screeching. Aubrey and Stacie were sat huddled together in the cab, evidently distressed. We had boarded up the broken window on the driver's side on our first night with the truck using a spare sheet of slightly rusted metal that we had found in the back, but even so it was a weak spot, and several of the infected were already targeting it, trying to dent it and pry it up.

"We have to do something Beca!" I grunted, putting the shotgun to my shoulder. She nodded grimly, and glanced over to the car, which was similarly surrounded by a few of the infected.

"Chloe…" She began, obviously concerned that Chloe wasn't going to be able to find safety there whilst we took on this attack, but to our surprise, the redhead looked to us both with her eyes blazing, jaw set firmly, and spoke three determined words.

"Let's do this." Just at that moment, one of the infected smashed the other window on the passenger side of the truck and began reaching in, screeching manically. At this, Chloe growled and charged forward, running to where she had dropped the hammer and hefting it onto her shoulder. Beca and I followed her, stunned at her sudden change in demeanor. We watched on as she rushed over to the infected that was grabbing at her friends and yelling wildly, swung the hammer at its head, knocking it clean off its shoulders. She then kicked its headless body away from her, and jumped down after it, moving to those scratching at the sides of the truck itself. Beca and I then launched into action, taking out as many of the infected as we could, clearing a path to the car so that we could make a swift getaway before they reanimated.

Watching Chloe fight was like a dream, only in that it was so surreal, not in the sense that I had ever wanted to see it. In fact, it was more like a nightmare, because I felt trapped and every time she glanced back at me with those burning eyes, her face spattered with gore, I felt my heart lurch in an unpleasant way, as if it were trying to detach itself.

"Beca, focus." Jesse chided, nudging me gently in the ribs as he turned to shoot another of the infected back. I knew now was not the time to be freezing up like this, but I couldn't bear it. Seeing her like this, it was terrifying. The last of the evening light was now shining through what could be termed her 'mane' of violently red hair, and yeah, if I could compare her to any entity on this earth in that moment, it would have been the fierce lioness taking down her prey. She moved with determination and precision, and I could tell from her grimace that she was aware of her actions. And yet she showed no signs of slowing, no sign of relenting until all of the infected lay twitching on the floor and Jesse and I were hauling her back to the car. Halfway there she shuddered and went limp in my arms, so I threw her up across my shoulder and jogged her back to the car as fast as I could manage. Aubrey had already started up the truck and as Jesse dove into the back seat, I bundled Chloe into the passenger side and then ran to get into the driver's seat. Soon we were driving. Fast.

"Jesse, buckle her in, I didn't have time." The request came out flat, emotionless, as I concentrated on driving. The steady rumble of the truck behind me was slowly getting to me, and I cursed under my breath, pushing down on the accelerator.

"Beca, slow down, we're going to leave the truck behind." Jesse's words were muffled and dead, and I couldn't really understand them anyway, not over the sound of my breath in my ears. I just focused on the road ahead and on driving away from that noise. I was no longer registering the origin of it, but I knew I had to get away. I had to get us all away from it. The needle on the speedometer was creeping up and up, and Jesse was still saying something desperately in my ear, but I couldn't hear him. I just watched the needle climb, knowing that as it rose, the sound decreased. Suddenly, a hand grabbed mine and jerked the steering wheel, causing the car to spin off to the side. I cried out and struggled to regain control as we moved into the other lane and skidded to a halt on the grass verge beside it. Someone was talking again, I didn't even know who now, and more hands shook my shoulder, tapped at my face. I wanted to reach up and swat them away, but I couldn't find the strength to move. Finally, I noticed little black spots dancing across my eyes and tried to blink them away, but the more I did that the more they danced and swam and grew and then everything was black and I wasn't conscious anymore.

I awoke to the same voices hovering somewhere above me, Jesse and Chloe's, and a cool breeze slipping across my face and bare arms. As I clawed my way back into consciousness I realised that I was lying flat on the tarmac, and as my eyelids fluttered and opened I was met with a pair of watery blue eyes and a sad smile.

"Heya." Chloe whispered, and her hand reached over and intertwined with mine. I struggled to sit up, returning her faint smile as much as I could.

"Hi." I groaned, lifting my spare hand to my head, which was pounding and aching with every movement I made.

"Uh, what's going on?" I asked, noticing what appeared to be a ring of fire surrounding us. Chloe shrugged.

"We couldn't keep going all night again, not in that state, and you had passed out already so we figured we'd stop and set up a solid defense. Are you okay?" I nodded, sitting up further and pulling the redhead into a firm embrace.

"I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened in the car Chloe, but I put you in danger and I'm so sorry." I could feel her breath hitch against my neck.

"It's okay Beca, it's not your fault. I'm just so glad you're okay." I could feel the warmth of tears against my skin now, both mine and hers, and for the first time I realised that I could let her see me cry. And so I let it break over me again, the pain and the terror, and she held me through it. When it was over, and I was silent, she lifted my face to hers and kissed me with such sweetness that I thought I must surely be dying because isn't this what heaven must feel like?

"Thank you for letting me be here for you Beca. It's going to be okay. I love you." It sounded like merely a few statements but really I could hear the sincerity behind each one and I smiled a genuine smile. I didn't know how much time had passed since I had been in that state but I didn't really care either. Time was just a concept that humans created anyway, it only existed in our minds. The only time-keeper we had and needed now was the sun. The only thing we had to pace ourselves by was the light, our stomachs and the amount of gas left in each of our vehicles. Other than that, we were basically free, which was actually a terrifying concept when it exists so entirely around you. I wasn't going to pretend like I particularly missed some of the crippling rules that had governed our world but fuck, I was starting to miss the boring little things that made up that old era. Taking out the trash. Making the bed. Even boiling the kettle. What I wouldn't have given for a cup of tea right then - it was a very small list. Still, the people around me all smiled at me as I got to my feet and waved shyly at them, and I realised that I could probably manage in this new world, so long as I kept these people close; close to me and close to the heart that I was finally starting to believe I had.


	10. Chapter 10

Our main problem was the truck. Second to that came the matter of supplies.

"Wait so you're saying we only have enough for three more days?" Donald asked, looking horrified. Aubrey and I had called a meeting that morning to tackle these two issues, and so far they weren't going down well.

"Basically." I sighed.

"Well what are you gonna do about it then?" Bumper grumbled, folding his arms. Aubrey merely raised an eyebrow.

"Beca seems to think that our only option is to keep looking for a town, and I'm inclined to agree. Basically we're going to keep driving, just in shifts, no more stopping. Our only hope is to find a town that has survived." Aubrey said in an authorative tone, and I nodded my head beside her to back her up. Everyone else looked somewhere between confused and scared, but they all agreed to the idea, and soon we were sorting out driving shifts.

"Basically we just need to switch between two or three people. Chloe, Jesse and I will switch between us in the car throughout the day and night, and Aubrey, Stacie and Donald can all sit up in the cab and do the same." Thankfully, Donald had been voted the third driver over Bumper and Fat Amy, neither of whom I trusted with such a task, although both for different reasons. Bumper was a douchebag, nothing more to it, and therefore more likely to cause some kind of accident than anything else, and Amy… well, Amy was enthusiastic and erratic in her behavior, and much as I liked her I didn't want her in charge of a large speeding vehicle containing other people either. We set off quickly after that, not wanting to linger for any longer than necessary in any one place, particularly as we had already been there a few hours. We'd only been met with a few of the infected in that time, and between us we'd been able to draw them away from our little 'camp' and trap them. Still, that wouldn't work forever, and we didn't have long to find a town. Three days in fact. Funny how time is so fluid that even though none of us were counting the minutes of the hours anymore, we were still counting the meals we had left on our fingers as though there were anything we could do about how few we were left showing. We drove practically non-stop for two days, only stopping once to refuel both vehicles and a few more times beside that for bathroom breaks. Jesse took to keeping watch out of the sunroof for hours on end, scouting for any signs of a town as Chloe and I switched over between the two front seats. It was a strange routine that we fell into blankly, hardly noticing our resignation to the end until we realised that as the sun set on the third day, we were sharing around our last can of tuna in the car.

"I guess that's it then." Chloe sighed glumly, tipping her head back to stare up at the ceiling.

"Yup." I replied, still driving.

"We're sure to find somewhere soon though, right?" Jesse mumbled hopefully.

Three more days later and the answer to that was still no. By then, we were all living off acorns and pretty pink clover plants that we found on the roadside, and what few squirrels Jesse and I had managed to shoot. We stopped our headlong rush East for these gathering sessions, and were attacked every time. As the days passed we got weaker however, and these attacks became more and more difficult to defend against. Hope was beginning to drain from everyone's eyes, and when I kissed Chloe goodnight it was never quite so sweet as it had been. Perhaps if I had died back then, that would have been enough. I could have died happy at least. These thoughts kept me awake even when I was meant to be sleeping. Surely this was it for us after all.

And then, somehow, we were saved.

"BECA! Over there - I see buildings!" Jesse shouted down to me from the sunroof, and I could tell that he was waving frantically to the truck behind us.

"Are you serious?" Chloe sat up in her seat, gripping the headrest to twist her body up to face Jesse.

"Yeah!" He dropped back into the back seat, grinning like a maniac.

"Just a little farther down the road, it looks like a village of some sort."

"Did you see any people?" I asked, my suspicion flaring.

"No, but we have to pull over Becs, we have to check it out." I sighed. He was right. So, as the building he was talking about, a small convenience store, came into view, I turned off and pulled up on what appeared to be a normal street in a normal little town.

"I can't believe we made it!" Jesse was saying, a few tears making their way down his excited face. Chloe too was expressing her relief, and I saw the others getting out of the van and hugging each other as though we had literally reached the end of our entire journey. I knew differently though.

"Jesse, I still want you on the shotgun, Chloe, take the hammer. I'm not taking any chances, I don't care how hungry and tired we all are, we're not losing any sense to that." They seemed to sober slightly at my tone, and soon we were all standing together outside the shop, Jesse, Chloe and I at the front of the group holding our weapons loosely. It occurred to me that I hadn't ever spoken to Chloe about that day she had attacked the infected alongside us, but I brushed it off, realising that would have to wait a little longer. We all watched as Jesse reached forward to grip the door handle and slowly turn it, eliciting a small 'clunk' as he did so.

"Guess they forgot to lock up." Stacie whispered hopefully. _Either that or they didn't have time, _I thought to myself, tightening my grip on the handgun. The door creaked painfully as Jesse pushed it open, and we followed in single file tight on each other's heels as he entered cautiously. It was gloomy in the shop as the only source of light was through the grubby windows, and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust enough to make out the rows of shelves that lined the shop.

"Okay… it looks clear. You lot gather as much shit as you can carry and take it to the truck and the boot of the car. Chloe and I will scout out the rest of the shop, okay?" I hissed, and everyone muttered their acknowledgements, already beginning to go about their tasks.

"What about me?" Jesse whispered, brow furrowed.

"Can you watch their backs on the run? I need someone with a weapon with the main bulk of the group. Chloe can watch my back, right?" I directed this last part to my girlfriend who stood at my elbow, and she nodded profusely.

"Okay." Jesse sighed, relenting. I could tell that he was confused by my decision to take Chloe instead of him, but he wasn't one to argue. I motioned for Chloe to follow and began to make my way over to the back of the shop, where another door stood slightly ajar. She was so close behind me that I could feel her breath on the back of my neck, but I didn't time to consider how that made me feel, how it brought a wave of heat to my cheeks and a tingling to the pit of my stomach. It seemed odd to me in that moment, where everything seemed almost _normal_ that Chloe and I had never actually had time to do typical relationship stuff. Like, sure, we kissed plenty, and we cuddled every night, we talked all day, played childish games, laughed, sang, held hands and heck we even killed infected together, but I guess what I realised we were missing was dates; alone time. Even sex. We hadn't even considered anything of that nature since we were together, and now it was on my mind I realised how insane that was, mostly because Chloe was beautiful and she was also hot as fuck and god, the more I thought about it the more I realised I really, _really _wanted her. Beyond that door we found a pretty bare supply closet, containing nothing but a dirty looking mop and bucket and some cleaning supplies. I bit my lip. _Control yourself Mitchell._

"Are you okay, Beca? You've gone kinda red." I turned to face her, realising that my face was indeed burning.

"Yeah, it's nothing." She was looking at me with confusion, but was that all? There seemed to be something more in her eyes, and I noticed it spark a little as I leant forward and pulled her into a deep kiss. Before I could move my hands to where they were aching to be however, we were interrupted by a shout from the shop, and the sound of scuffling feet. We jumped apart and grabbed our various weapons, running back into the main shop area.

"What's going on?" I gasped, staring at Jesse and Donald who were now struggling to restrain an elderly man, who was batting at them with a stick.

"Get your hands off me! This is my store you son of a bitch, let. me. GO!" He managed to clock Bumper in the head with the stick at this point, and he yelled angrily.

"Dude what the fuck?! I'm not even holding you!" He growled, rubbing at his head as we all tried to contain our laughter. I walked over to them now, setting my face into a more sombre expression.

"Okay, so we need to know what the state of this town is sir." The man huffed.

"I ain't sayin' nothing until these bastards let me go." I sighed, and nodded to Jesse that they could release him. He pushed away from them grumpily, brushing off his clothes which were so hole-ridden and faded that I thought it hardly mattered if they were a little creased following the encounter.

"This town," he began curtly, "is _fine._ I don't know where y'all are from, but you may want to consider learnin' yourself some manners. If you want somethin' from me that's no way t' go about it."

"I'm sorry, sir, we've just come from a rough situation, we can't afford to take any chances. So you're saying that you've had no infections here?"

"Infections? Of what, flu?" I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

"No, the virus, you know, RA7?" He just shook his head.

"Can't say I've heard of it. Anyhow, everyone here is fine, and we don't need your kind around here messin' that up for us so do yourselves a favour and move along, huh?" He glared at me, and I decided that it was time to leave before he noticed his missing stock.

"Okay sir, well thanks for your time, and sorry again for intruding."

"Darn right." He muttered, turning away and hobbling off towards the till.

"Gogogo!" I hissed, hustling the others out of the door as fast as I could. We emerged into the light blinking and grinning.

"Well he was as mad as a banana bender taking on a boomer!" Fat Amy exclaimed cheerfully, and we all stared at her in confusion. She merely shrugged and smiled.

"Okay then. If you're saying what I think you are though, then you're right about him being completely insane; I don't think he even knows what day it is." I sighed.

"Well, do you?" Aubrey cut in, raising an eyebrow challengingly. That shut me up.

"She's got you there, Bilbo." Bumper laughed, and I glared at him. He'd been the one person who consistently got at me about my height, even though I wasn't that much shorter than everyone else anyway, and it was really starting to piss me off.

"Fuck off, Bumper." I spat, before turning back to the others. I really didn't know how much more of him I could stand.

"Right," I began, trying to regain control of the chattering group, "I say we split up and search the rest of the town, try to figure out what the situation is."

"That's a good idea." Jesse smiled at me encouragingly, and Lily added something unintelligable, to which we all just smiled and nodded awkwardly.

"So I think three teams is probably best. Chloe, Jesse and I will be the team leaders as we all have weapons and experience. Any objections?" Bumper looked as though he wanted to argue, but both Aubrey and Amy were glaring at him with such malice that he kept his mouth shut.

"Okay, so Chloe, you go with Aubrey, Stacie. Jesse, you can take Donald, and Amy, and I'll go with Bumper and Lily."

Everyone shuffled into their teams, Chloe beaming at Aubrey and Stacie as she practically skipped over to them.

"Okay let's head out then. Jesse, take that street to the left. Chloe, go round the other side of the shop and go right from there; I'll take this way." I nodded to the road straight ahead of us. The others nodded and set off, still whispering excitedly. I watched on happily as Chloe and Aubrey linked arms, laughing away at something that Stacie had said, before turning back to Bumper, who was glaring at me, and Lily who was looking slightly mortified as usual.

"Okay let's do this." I sighed, and we began trudging up the road. I was taking care to avoid stepping on the trash that littered the street, but Bumper was making as much noise as possible, or so it seemed. I cringed as he stomped on a half-empty crisp packet.

"Bumper, would you mind walking on the road instead of the garbage? We kinda need to stay quiet." He muttered something that was probably highly offensive, but after that he did seem to take a little more care of where he placed his feet.

"I don't see anything. Do you really think that this place has survived?" He whispered after a few minutes.

"No, I don't, and that's why we're checking it out." I was beginning to feel like I was being watched.

"Hey, what's that over there?!" Bumper hissed, suddenly grabbing my arm. I spun round to face the direction in which he was pointing, just in time to see a shadow flashing across a window inside one of the houses.

"Cover me." I whispered, beginning to creep forward. It was pretty likely that this was going to be one of the infected, and if it was then I didn't want to bring my presence to its attention. I crouched down underneath the windowsill as Bumper and Lily stood just off to my left, and slowly peered over the sill. I was met with a pair of started green eyes, the owner apparently as shocked as I was. We both screamed and fell backwards, but I quickly leapt up and ran back to the window. A young girl sat inside a little way away from the pane, staring up at me. She looked to be about fifteen, with jet black hair and a slightly grubby face.

"Hi, it's okay I'm on your side. Can you come out and talk to me and my friend for a second?" I asked, putting on a smile. She shook her head rapidly.

"No, my mom says I can't go outside without dad." She looked as if she was about to burst into tears. I adopted another tactic.

"Okay, well can we come in? We just need to find out a few things, we're lost you see, and we don't have anything to eat." She glanced around nervously, before getting up and walking in the direction of the door.

"Lily, keep watch out here." I waved to Bumper, and we moved to the doorstep. The door opened moments later, after the sound of several heavy bolts being drawn back and locks undone echoed out. I beamed down at the girl as she peered out from behind the door, and slowly stepped back to let us enter. We stopped just inside the door, and Bumper held it just slightly ajar behind us.

"Okay, so we need to know if there are any infected in this town." I began, bending down slightly to be at the same height as the girl. She was trembling slightly.

"I'm sorry, I-" She was cut off by a large man carrying a double-barreled shotgun looming out from a door to her left, and aiming straight as me. I raised my hands and stood back up to my full height.

"Nice catch, Emilia. The sergeant sure will be pleased with us." He had a deep, gravelly voice, and when he spoke I could see that he had several missing teeth.

"Uh, there's got to be some sort of mistake here sir, we're just passing through." Bumper said, adjusting his grip on the door. The man simply leered and shoved the girl behind him roughly.

"No mistake. You're coming with us."

We'd been shuffling through empty streets for what felt like hours now, and I was beginning to get bored with it. Not to mention the hunger that was clawing at my stomach like an enraged grizzly bear. Still, this had been the perfect opportunity to get the scoop on what was going on between Aubrey and Stacie. The moment we'd been reunited, I knew that something had changed between them, but up until now, I hadn't been exactly sure what that was. Now, I knew; they were _so_ in love with each other! The very notion made me want to squeal like a little girl and jump up and down, but I knew I had to be subtle about it if I wanted to get them to admit to anything. I'd tried to get Aubrey to talk to me about it a week or so ago, but, to my dismay, she had remained tight-lipped throughout.

"So, how have you two been holding up in the truck then?" I started, my tone sickly sweet and innocent. Aubrey raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, good I guess?" I chuckled.

"I was just asking. You know, you two seem awfully close now. Is there something you want to, you know, tell me? Possibly?" I giggled as Aubrey's eyes went wide and Stacie's face split into a grin.

"FINE! Chloe, you win. Stacie and I… we're, um…" Aubrey trailed off.

"Dating. We're dating." Stacie laughed, suddenly pulling the blonde into a dazzling kiss. Only then did I allow myself to squeal and leap around.

"YES! I _knew _it!" Aubrey tried her hardest to scowl at me, but couldn't help smiling along at my antics.

"Whatever. You're so childish, Chlo." I stuck my tongue out at her.

"You love it. Okay, so serious business now, we need to see if we can find anything useful like food and make sure there are no infected around." The others nodded, and we began walking with more purpose. I thought I heard something like a shout off to my left in the distance, but Aubrey and Stacie didn't react and so I figured it was nothing.

"Jesse, I'm all for making sure this place is safe, but seriously I think I saw a diner back there, can we go make some chips or something? I'm seriously hungry." Amy was moaning, just like she had been the whole time we'd been searching the town. So far we'd found nothing; no infected, no people, and no food, much to our dismay. I was trying to remain impassive to that fact, although I had to admit that at the mere mention of food I was starting to feel my resolve crumble.

"Amy's right, we've found nothing so far, it wouldn't hurt to break into one of these shops and get something to eat, we won't be fit to defend ourselves otherwise." Donald added. I sighed, finally giving in.

"Okay, okay. We'll head back to the diner." Amy thrust her fist into the air, cheering quietly.

"I'll lead the way, shall I?" She grinned, beginning to walk briskly back the way we had just come.

"Oh, _now _you move quickly." I grumbled, shouldering the rifle and speeding up to catch up with her, Donald doing the same.

"I know what I want." was her reply. Soon, we were standing outside the diner in question. It was dark inside, and from what I could see of the interior through the thick layer of dust coating the window, it was pretty trashed.

"Okay, we need to do this slowly and carefully." I whispered. Unfortunately, Amy didn't do anything slowly and carefully, and she rushed past me, booting the door down with one foot before charging straight in, coughing at the sudden explosion of dust that her actions created.

"Amy!" I groaned, signaling for Donald to follow me in as I jogged after her. She was already in the back room, chucking boxes and packets through and onto the counter.

"Don't sweat it J, there's no one here." my gaze fell on a second, closed, door on the back wall, adjacent to the one through which Amy's voice drifted.

"Yeah, I'm not so sure…" I muttered under my breath. "Donald, can you take watch on the door? I'm going to check through there."

"Alright." He jogged over to the main door to stand watch as I moved to the one in the back. I wasn't sure why it was freaking me out so much, but a part of me was convinced that something was behind this door, something terrible. I reached for the handle, my hand shaking slightly. As my fingers clenched around the cold metal I forced myself to take a second to breathe, to calm my nerves. Then, in one swift motion, I yanked the door open and put the rifle to my shoulder, finger on the trigger. What then fell out at my feet caused me to turn to the side and gag; three or four putrid, rotting corpses, each bound with rope. They landed with an unpleasant 'squelch' which caused my stomach to do a second flip.

"Oh god oh god oh god." I whispered, stumbling back.

"What's going- oh." Amy asked, emerging from the larder just in time to see the bodies, her face falling.

"We have to get out of here now, it's not safe." I said, my voice flat. She paled, and nodded, forgetting what food she had found and heading straight for the door.

"Everything okay back there?" Donald enquired, having noticed our expressions. I merely shook my head.

"We're not safe here. We have to get back to meet the others, we have to warn them."


	11. Chapter 11

We stumbled along the road now, hands tied firmly behind our backs. Thankfully, Lily was nowhere to be seen when we exited the house, and so I knew she had escaped. The man and the girl had quickly claimed our weapons, and after that it was just a matter of tying us up and forcing us out of the door and towards wherever it was we were headed. I'd have fought back, god knows I wanted to, but the man was about 6"5 and built like a bear so I thought it better to let that one slide. Bumper was scowling at the floor beside me, and every time his pace slowed a little or he faltered, the girl at his back would move the blade of her knife up to his throat, just in is line of sight, and he would clench his jaw and dart forward. The man was behind me, evidently judging that I posed more of a threat in terms of escape than Bumper. He was right though; if I had the girl I'd have found a way to take her out by now. Still, there was nothing to be done now, and so I moved quietly, not even answering the questions he put to me every so often.

"Come from very far?" I remained silent. He chuckled darkly.

"Probably Atlanta, I'll bet. Fuckin' city folk don't know how t' do anything except sip their _espresso coffees _and read their fancy papers." He spat off to the side now, grimacing.

"I'm sensing a certain bitterness here." Bumper sighed. This earned him a poke in the back with the tip of the knife.

"Speak when you're spoken to." The girl hissed. Her eyes still seemed wide with fear and innocence, but her face had long since relaxed into a sly half-smile that showed me just how often she did this. I wondered why she had been brought into whatever this was, but I didn't see the point in asking. We rounded a corner now and there, rising up in front of us was a large building surrounded by a dozen or so military guards.

"Shit." Bumper muttered.

"That's right, you're in deep shit now, son. This here's what used to be the hospital - _now _it's where the whole town lives, excluding us toll collectors that is." He was grinning as though he was extremely proud of this. Finally, I spoke up.

"Toll collectors?"

"Ah, she speaks. Finally deemed us worthy of your words? That's right anyhow, toll collectors. We collect up any travelers that pass through here and bring them to the sergeant. See, when the shit hit the fan, we were all panicking, we didn't know what to do. Then, a few tanks rolled up and the military guys took over, fortified the hospital and offered us protection in return for refuge and food and such. _Our _job is to give them the travelers. Some we use as bait for the infected," At this he shot an evil look at Bumper, who paled and gasped.

"And some," he continued, "They train up and recruit." He nodded to me now. I felt like the blood in my veins had stilled an turned to ice. He pushed us forward again, and called to one of the guards by the door.

"Got another batch over here." The guard smiled and nodded to our captors, stepping aside to allow us through the doors. The first thing I noticed was the smell - disinfectant and despair - and second to that came the blood spattering the walls. It wasn't everywhere, but as we trudged through the echoing halls, I could pick it out every so often, a patch here and a patch there. A puddle on the floor that someone had half-heartedly scrubbed at, leaving a reddy-brown stain in its wake. Soon we came to a set of stairs, and the man grabbed my arm now.

"Time to say goodbye to your buddy here." He smirked, as the girl began to shove Bumper towards the staircase leading downwards, to the basement level.

"Wait, you can't do this!" I cried, suddenly straining forward, trying desperately to break free. Bumper looked as though he was about to pass out, eyes frantic and beginning to pool with tears.

"Please don't kill me." he whimpered, and the girl snorted.

"That's not my job, I won't kill you. We've got plenty of infected friends out there who can take care of that for us." He broke down then, sobbing and falling to his knees. I was still struggling against the man's grip, but he pushed the barrel of his gun under my chin, forcing my head back, and I stilled.

"Emilia, you take the girl. If I have to carry this sorry sack of shit down there I will, but don't think it'll spare you a beating, boy." I felt the gun change hands, and now the fingers clenched tightly around my arm were smaller, softer, weaker. I could hear the man lifting Bumper up off the floor now, and from the way in which the crying had stopped I guessed that he really had passed out.

"What a pussy." The man cackled. His boots began thumping down the stairs, and I grit my teeth.

"Let's move it." the girl pushed me forward, further down the corridor. One of the lights was flickering wildly, and it was starting to make me feel dizzy as my head was still tipped back and my eyes one the ceiling.

"Why aren't you recruiting him too?" I braved a question, wincing at how hoarse my voice already sounded. I heard the girl sigh.

"He's not up to it. Did you not just see him cry like a baby and pass out back there?" I guess I couldn't argue with that. Still, I was desperate to save him at this point.

"Okay, but he could be something else. He's handy with tools and good at directions." This earned a harsh bark of laughter from her.

"Yeah, because we're running low on that sort of person around here." She stopped walking now, pulling the gun away slightly so that I could look at her.

"Look, I know you want to save him but seriously, there's no point trying. He's as good as dead now. As for you, you're lucky and you should be thanking your stars that I'm not taking you down there as well. You'll make a good soldier, but first you need to learn to shut your mouth." I hated someone so much younger than me talking to me like I was the kid, but I did keep my mouth shut, if only because I was still staring down the barrel of a gun. We walked a little way further down the corridor and finally came to another staircase, this one leading further up into the building.

"Move it." The girl grunted, and I began to jog up the stairs as fast as I could, all whilst trying not to trip. Finally, four flights later, we came out onto a level that was so uncomfortably warm and stuffy that I immediately started coughing.

"Shut up." I glared at the girl. Was I not even allowed to cough now? A shadow passed across my face and I snapped my head round to see a short man leering at me from the entrance to a room just opposite the top of the staircase.

"I take it this is our latest recruit? Do come in, ladies." I was jostled forward again, and once in the room, sat in a worn office chair. The room was quite small, but decorated to look like an office, the large oak desk that separated me and this new man covered with various pens, documents and a large map. We sat in silence for a moment, the man and I, the girl still stood at my back with the gun to my head. Eventually the man sat up in his chair and waved the girl over.

"You've done well. This one looks good, take this back to your father." He handed her a pack of something wrapped in old newspapers, and she saluted before walking out briskly, shooting me a triumphant look as she swept past me. The door closed with a loud click, and silence settled once again. After a few minutes, I decided to break it.

"Uh, so would you mind telling me what happens now?" The man looked startled as I spoke, but then his face relaxed back into the same creepy smile.

"Well, first things first. What is your name?" I scowled.

"Beca Mitchell."

"Well, Mitchell, my name is sergeant Pearson, and I'm in charge of this whole town. You and your friend were caught trespassing here and now you belong to me. It may seem archaic, but sadly this is the world we live in now. I hope you can understand." He rose to his feet now, and began to pace back and forth behind his desk.

"How did you know about my friend?" He chuckled.

"I have plenty of footsoldiers who keep me well informed of everything that happens around here. And you're about to become one of them, lucky girl. I have a good feeling about you, I think you'll make a fine soldier. It's getting dark now, but tomorrow we start your training. For now, I'll have someone escort you to your temporary quarters. After tonight you'll move into the 'barracks' with the other soldiers, but this is just a precaution. We need to keep you guarded until we're sure that you'll cooperate. For that same reason, you'll remain tied up for tonight." I narrowed my eyes at him, ready to ask more questions, but he was already waving in another person, this time a soldier. He looked to be about seventeen, so hardly much older than that girl. _Is everyone around here a fucking kid? _

"Escort miss Mitchell to her room and make sure she's secured." Pearson ordered, and I was yanked roughly to my feet and shoved out of the door. My room was on the next level down, and I found it to contain a hospital bed, a bucket of stone cold water and a bar of soap. The soldier took out a pair of handcuffs from his pocket and placed them on my wrists before removing the rope ties. He then exited the room, closing and locking the door behind me. My heart sank as I heard several bolts being drawn across, and I collapsed back onto the bed, a few tears escaping my weary eyes. How was I going to get out of this situation?

Amy, Donald and I were stood at the truck for about an hour before Chloe, Aubrey and Stacie arrived back, and we were all waiting for the others even longer than that.

"Do you think we should go look for them?" Chloe eventually asked, the anxiety evident in her voice. I shook my head.

"No. Beca will be back, you know she can handle herself." Chloe moved closer to me now, whispering so that no one else could overhear her words.

"But what if she _isn't _okay? I'm worried, Jesse, they've been gone a long time." I sighed.

"Alright, we'll give her another hour and then go, okay?" She nodded and stepped back to where Aubrey and Stacie were talking. Aubrey shot me a look of confusion as Chloe burrowed her way into her arms, and I shrugged. Suddenly, I felt someone tap my shoulder from behind, and I spun round to see Lily waving frantically at me.

"Lily! What's wrong? Are Beca and Bumper with you?" The others all stood up now and crowded around the poor girl, who looked on the verge of tears. For the first time since meeting her, I finally heard her speak.

"A man, a man and a girl in one of the houses tricked them and captured them. I was keeping watch outside so they didn't see me, so I followed behind them. They had them tied up and at gunpoint, and they took them to the hospital. I overheard them saying that it's where the whole town lives now. There were soldiers everywhere so I couldn't go any further." I clenched my fists as the group around me gasped and began panicking.

"What do we do, Jesse!" Chloe gripped my shoulder, eyes searching mine desperately.

"We have to go in after them. Lily, can you help me figure out the layout of the guards around the building?" She nodded.

"Great. We'll plan how to get in, and then once it's dark we'll head back and rescue them."

Everyone nodded in agreement now, and Lily and I set to work drawing out a vague map in the dirt. I could feel pure dread creeping through me at the thought of Beca and Bumper being held prisoner, but I also knew that now was not the time to let my emotions get to me; I had to concentrate on saving them. We only had one chance.

**AN: Just to say that I replaced chapter 10 with a version that actually made sense (there was a silly mistake in it) so if you already read that you may want to go and re-read it because the whole thing makes more sense now. Apologies again for that! **


	12. Chapter 12

When I finally came to, I was met with two sets of eyes watching me closely.

"Ugh, what the fuck?" I groaned, trying to sit up and noticing that my hands were bound tightly behind my back.

"Welcome back, buddy. We were beginning to think you weren't gonna wake up." One of the people, a friendly-looking woman with vibrant red hair laughed softly. The man beside her offered a more timid grin.

"How long have you guys been down here?" I asked, still struggling to move.

"A few days maybe? It's hard to tell down here. It's a basement level, so no windows. What's your name?"

"Bumper." This elicited a stronger laugh from the woman.

"Cool name. I'm Cynthia-Rose, and this is Benji." Benji nodded to me.

"So what, they're really gonna feed us to the infected then?" I finally pulled myself up into a sitting position, sighing with relief as the pressure on my wrists was removed.

"Yup. Sucks, huh." I grunted in agreement, taking the opportunity to look around the small basement room. It was completely bare except for the three of us and the poles that we were chained to, which ran floor to ceiling. As Cynthia-Rose had pointed out, there were no windows to indicate what time it was, and the door didn't have one either. The only source of light within the room was a single bulb hanging from the ceiling, casting an eerie orange glow across everything. It was making my head hurt.

"Were you a-alone when you were captured?" Benji asked nervously. I wasn't surprised to hear that his voice was as tentative as his general persona.

"Nope, I was with this bitch called Beca. Actually, we were with a whole group of people, but we split up to search the town. Anyway, Beca and I got captured, and she's being recruited apparently, whatever that means."

"Lucky her." Cynthia-Rose snorted.

"Well, not entirely." Benji offered, and we both turned to look at him.

"What do you mean?"

"I heard the guards saying that often they have to torture and sometimes kill those who don't cooperate. Do you think she will?" He raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Not a chance. She's more the independent, rebellious type. She'll put up a hell of a fight." I replied. Benji shook his head.

"In which case there's no telling what they'll end up doing to her."

"Yeah, well I'd say anything's better than being fed to those infected bastards out there." I spat, leaning my head back to rest against the pole behind me.

"He's got a point." Cynthia-Rose murmured, and Benji merely shrugged.

We sat there in silence for a while, the only sound the constant hum of the light-bulb, and then I spoke up again.

"So there's… there's no way out of here?"

"Not that we can see. And besides, unless you're a contortionist or an escape artist or some shit then we're stuck in these cuffs. So no." Cynthia-Rose retained her calm, matter-of-fact tone, although I thought I could see a flicker of fear in her eyes at the reminder of our helplessness.

"You said there were others though, didn't you?" Benji asked hopefully.

"Yeah, there are. Whether or not they'll find us down here I don't know. Depends how long we've got, I guess." And with that, we descended into silence once more.

I thought I was going to be allowed the night to sleep, but a few hours after being locked into my tiny hospital room and placed in handcuffs, they came for me again. I was hauled to my feet, still in a sleepy daze, and dragged down the corridor to yet another strange room. This one contained a single metal chair, fitted with leather restraints, and I could make out several objects on the counter to the side. I was forced into the chair, and then another official-looking man sauntered in. He wore one of the more formal military uniforms, and from this I could tell that he had rank.

"So, you're the new recruit? Bit small, eh? Still, I can see how you could be useful." I bit back a snide retort, all too aware of my situation. The soldier who had brought me in was now removing the handcuffs and quickly binding my arms and legs with the restraints built into the chair. When he finally stepped back, I tested them quickly, and found that I could barely move.

"You're probably wondering why you're here so soon. In truth, the Sergeant has a bit of a soft spot for pretty city girls like you. He let you go all too easy… It's my job to test your resolve now. We have to know that you'll swear loyalty to us, or else we can't do shit with you. So, we're just going to subject you to a bit of… questioning. It won't take long, _if _you cooperate. The outcome all depends on you, my dear." He sneered at me, raking his eyes across my body as he did so. I felt sick to my stomach.

"Fuck you." I growled, and his expression morphed into one of mild amusement. He strode forward and struck me across the face with the back of his hand before leaning in close, so close that I could feel his breath on my face.

"The novelty of your 'fighting spirit' will wear off very quickly, miss Mitchell, I'll warn you of that right now. I don't think you want to test my patience much more." I felt dizzy with terror. What was he planning on doing to me? He moved over to the counter now, and began sorting through the objects that lay atop it, finally lifting up a small penknife and a set of pliers.

"Let's begin, shall we?"

Thankfully, Lily apparently had an amazing mind for directions. She was able to lead us straight back to the hospital, even in the darkness, and soon we were all crowded behind a set of dumpsters, picking out the guards and snipers posted around it.

"I count three snipers. One up on the hospital roof itself, one on this building to the right and one on the building opposite." Donald whispered, and I nodded.

"Besides that, there's twelve footsoldiers out here. All armed. We need to check the back for a possible way in." The others nodded and we began to creep down the back street which we hoped would take us out behind the hospital. Eventually, we managed to loop around so that we found the back of the huge building. There were a couple of guards round at this end, but not as many, and these seemed more relaxed, smoking and laughing calmly.

"Okay," I hissed, directing the group's attention towards me. "I'm gonna take Donald and Chloe inside. The rest of you stay out here as a backup. In case anything goes wrong I need some of you on the outside. Got it?" Aubrey, Lily, Stacie and Amy nodded, and I handed Aubrey the axe.

"Watch your backs out here. We won't be long."

"How are we getting in?" Chloe whispered, and I pointed to a large air-vent just ahead of us.

"We're going in that way." I glanced across to where the guards were leant against the wall, joking about something or other, and decided to take action.

"Come on, this way. Stay low." We sprinted across from the entrance of the alley to the vent, pressing ourselves up to the wall as soon as we got there. I then reached across and began to work at the grille of the vent, trying to pry it free. Donald began work on the other side, and soon we managed to pull it off enough that we could remove it quietly. As we slipped inside, crawling on our hands and knees in order to fit, I felt the adrenaline shoot through me. This was literally a life-or-death situation, something that I wasn't inexperienced with anymore, but it scared me all the more to think that now we were up against sentient human beings. It seemed odd to me that even now, when all of us who were still breathing in our own right were up against this violent plague, we were still turning in and against each other. I hadn't wanted to tell the others about the bodies, and I had made Donald and Amy stay quiet about it too. I really didn't want to worry Chloe, mostly. I knew that she'd immediately jump to the worst conclusions if she knew that Beca was in the hands of murderers, and I had to keep her focused for now so that we could save both Beca and Bumper. Since she'd finally snapped and attacked the infected, she'd become one of the best at it, and I wanted her collected and by my side when we rescued both of them. I knew we could do it; now it was just a matter of breathing quietly and watching carefully for those we wanted to find, all whilst avoiding those who couldn't find us. Easy.

I had long since given up on resisting. My body, too, had stopped responding to each blow, each tear and burn and stab, with burning screams, and now I just felt pretty numb all over. Sure, I could still feel everything he did to me, but it was muffled, _dulled_, almost like it was happening to someone else and I was only experiencing the echoes. I could hardly hear his voice now, either, the malice in his tone the only thing sharp enough to cut through the fog in my head. I guessed he was still banging on about 'loyalty' and my 'rebellious nature', but after I had repeatedly refused to listen to his bullshit arguments and pledge myself to his fucked up little army of lost kid-soldiers he had started with this, the torture, and I had stopped caring. The thing was, he was going to kill Bumper, and he was probably close to killing me right here, right now in this room, so what else could I really do? The only thing left to do was to make this as frustrating and difficult for him as it was for me. Everything he did elicited such a loud, heart-wrenching scream from me that eventually even he began to twitch and wince slightly at each one. I won't pretend that each scream was entirely forced; I doubt I'd have been able to restrain them even if I had wanted, but it made me feel a little better to know that even if it was just a little shard of glass pricking away at his brain, I was still causing him a bit of pain. He'd been at it for hours now, and I could tell that he was starting to get weary, and yet he wasn't relenting yet. He came up close to my left ear now, and I could just about hear him choking out his words.

"You think you're above all this, do you? You're so indifferent to what happens to you, what happens to your friend? What if I told you that there's more down there, and if you don't start cooperating I'll make you be the one to kill them all? How's about that?" I clenched my jaw. If he thought he could force me to do that, he had another thing coming. He'd have to kill me before he could force my hand to a trigger and my gun to my friend.

"Fuck. You." I repeated. Those were the only two words he'd got out of me so far. This earned me yet another blow to my face, then to my abdomen, and he picked up the knife from the floor where he'd left it in a little pool of blood.

"Fine. We'll do things your way. I've got all night."

"What was that?" Chloe hissed, stopping dead in the middle of the vent that we were currently crawling through. The sound echoed out again from somewhere further up, and I flinched.

"Sounds like screaming." Donald offered.

"It… It sounds like… like _Beca._" she shuddered. I felt my brow furrow.

"Follow the sound. We have to find out if it's her." We set off again, crawling faster than before in the direction of the sound. This lead us up a few floors, and as we got steadily closer the sound got harder to bear.

"Oh god, oh god what are they doing to her?! Go faster Jesse, we have to help her!" Chloe practically sobbed from behind me, and I increased my pace. I still wasn't entirely sure if it was my sister or not, but then how could I be when I'd never heard her scream like that? I'd never heard anybody scream like that. It was the most awful, throat-tearing sound, sourced from pure pain and desperation, and it was causing my lungs to tighten so much that I could hardly breathe. Finally, I signaled for the others to slow, and crept up to one of the openings. Through the grille, I could make out a small room, in the centre of which sat a girl slumped over in a metal chair. Her arms and legs were bound, and a man stood towering over her, brandishing several tools almost triumphantly. Others lay haphazardly on the floor, coated in the blood that was seeping out from everywhere; her whole body was leaking it and it was pooling onto the floor at an alarming rate. I stifled a gasp as she lifted her head - it was Beca. There was no mistaking those eyes, nor that permanent smirk of hers. The man began to talk, asking her questions about where she had come from and if she was willing to pledge herself to his army yet.

"FUCK. YOU." she spat, and he struck her hard with his fist.

"Jesse, it's her! I recognise her voice. Why aren't you going in?" Chloe hissed from behind me.

"I-I don't know. I…." Just then, the man stepped back, sighing.

"I need a coffee break. I'll be back though; you take this time to think over what I'm asking. Perhaps after remembering what the alternative is you might change your mind?" He laughed and strode out, beckoning for the guard who had been standing in the back of the room to follow him before closing the door firmly, leaving Beca alone in the room.

"He's gone! Follow me." I grunted, pushing the grille out on it's hinges so that I could slip my head and shoulders through before lowing myself to the floor.

"Beca!" She turned to squint at me, her face a deathly shade of white.

"Oh, hi Jesse." She smiled slightly before relaxing completely, going limp in the chair. Just at that moment, Chloe dropped down from the opening and staggered across to her, hand covering her mouth tightly.

"Oh my god… Beca? Beca?" She pushed the hair back from her face, but it was evident that she was unconscious.

"We need to get her out of here, Chloe." I muttered, already moving to her side and undoing the leather restraints on her arms and legs. Donald now exited the vent and began to assist, and between us we lifted her up carefully and began to carry her to the vent.

"How are we supposed to get her out through there?" Chloe whispered, and I paused a moment. I hadn't really thought that we'd be carrying her unconscious body out of here, therefore putting a massive hole in what had otherwise been a fool-proof plan.

"Shit."

"We could try the door? If there's no guards around we might be able to make it to the ground floor, then we can just get her out of a window." Donald suggested.

"That's a good idea. Okay, Donald you carry Beca and Chloe and I will be ready with the guns." Thankfully Beca's handgun was over on the counter next to some other tools, and Chloe picked it up gingerly. I carefully manoeuvred Beca into Donald's outstretched arms and then readied my own weapon. Once we were ready, I nodded to Chloe, who opened the door slowly and peered outside. She waved us out, and we quickly noticed that the staircase was just a few metres down the hallway. We moved as quickly as possible and were soon descending the stairs. I was beginning to sweat as it was pretty stuffy on these top floors, and of course my heart was pounding the most ridiculous techno-beat in my chest, which was enough to make anyone perspire. We made it two floors without being caught, but just as we were about to exit onto the ground floor, we heard voices coming towards us.

"Quickly, down there!" I pointed to the next set of stairs leading down to the basement level. We hurried down and shuffled under the staircase itself, which ended at this level. The voices soon passed, and we crawled out after a few moments, breathing sighs of relief.

"That was close." Donald grinned. I took a moment to look over the girl in his arms. Beca was covered in a series of cuts and slashes, mostly on her arms and face. Bruises were already blossoming across her entire body that was visible to us and there were even some burn marks blistering away across her knuckles and forearms. The amount of blood what was staining Donald's shirt and even now dripping onto the floor was worrying me, and I knew that we had to get her back to the truck and to safety so that I could patch her up.

"We need to get her out of here now." I muttered, getting to my feet. The others rose to join me, but Donald's expression changed slightly.

"What about Bumper? We need to find him." I shook my head, and was about to reply when I heard a faint shout coming from behind the door adjacent to me. Placing my ear to the door, I strained to listen closer.

"DONALD! JESSE! IN HERE!"

"Do you hear that?" I wasn't sure how much time had passed in this fucking basement, but I guess I'd been dozing lightly, for the sound of Benji's voice started me awake.

"What?" I looked up groggily. And then I heard it. Whispered voices from just outside the door, ones that I recognised.

"We need to get her out of here now." Was that… Jesse? I sat up straighter.

"JESSE! JESSEEEE!" I yelled, causing Cynthia-Rose and Benji to flinch.

"What the fuck?" Cynthia-Rose grumbled.

"What about Bumper? We need to find him." That was definitely Donald. I sucked in another breath to call out again.

"DONALD! JESSE! IN HERE!"

"What are you doing, shut up!" Cynthia-Rose hissed angrily.

"No, you don't understand, those are my friends, I can hear them!" I shot back excitedly.

"Bumper?" I heard Jesse again, and then a knock on the door.

"It's me! I'm tied up in here, help!" I grinned to the others. "We're saved!"

"Damn." Cynthia-Rose allowed herself a small smirk.

"They're gonna need to find the key though…" Benji began.

"Bumper, is there a vent opening in there?" Jesse's voice came through the door again, and I glanced around, my eyes fixing on a vent in the wall opposite the door.

"Yeah."

"Alright, hold on then, we'll be in to get you in a second. We have to take Beca out of a window because she's unconscious, and then we'll come back in through the vents and find you. Can you keep whistling or something, so that we can locate you?"

"Sure thing."

"Right, see you in a bit then." And with that, they were gone again, leaving Cynthia-Rose, Benji and I to wait desperately. Who knew that bunch of losers would actually come through for me. I guess they weren't so bad after all.


	13. Chapter 13

"Is that them?" Amy suddenly whispered, leaning forward to peer into the gloom. I too sat further forward, causing Stacie to huff and shift against my shoulder where she had been leaning. We could just about make out what looked to be Jesse, Chloe and Donald carrying someone over by the hospital, currently trying to lift whoever it was through the window.

"Who are they carrying?" Stacie was now watching on too, and her face betrayed a sense of concern that I knew we were all feeling.

"It looks like Beca." Lily muttered. Finally, they had her through the window, and were sprinting across the grass to us. Thankfully, what soldiers there were guarding this part of the building were completely distracted, some even sleeping, and so they went undetected, even in their frantic dash across open ground. They dropped down beside us, panting, and Donald laid the person out on the floor. Turns out it was Beca after all.

"What happened to her?!" I gasped, glancing at the lacerations criss-crossing every inch of exposed skin.

"We'll talk about it later. We have to get back in there to rescue Bumper, he's being held in the basement." Jesse spoke tightly, as if he were struggling to hold back tears. Chloe, too, looked as though she were about to break down, and so I shuffled closer, allowing determination to seep into my voice.

"Jesse, look at you. There's no way you and Chloe can go back in there, not with Beca like this. You two take her back to the truck; Stacie and I will go in with Donald to get Bumper."

Jesse glanced up, his eyes hopeful.

"Yeah, and count me in, blondie." Amy added, and I smiled.

"She's right Jesse, we can manage. You, Chloe and Lily concentrate on taking Beca back to the truck and patching her up." Jesse nodded, and scooped the limp body of his sister up into his arms, gesturing for Chloe and Lily to follow him. I turned back to the others as they left, face set.

"Right, Donald you need to lead us seeing as you've already been in. Do you know exactly where to find him?"

"No, but we told him to keep making a noise of some sort, like whistling, so that we could follow the sound through the vents. That was sort of how we found Beca, see." There was something in his expression as he mentioned this that made me go cold all over, but I decided that I could wait to ask.

"Okay. Lead on." we dashed across to the vent, Stacie clutching my hand tightly as we did so. We made it across without being spotted and entered the vent in single file, first Donald and then me, Stacie and lastly, Amy. The metal walls were cool against my knees, even through my clothes, and I felt a chill run through me as a few whistled notes suddenly echoed out through the tunnels.

"There, that's him. I think it came from this direction." Donald set off, turning left at the first opportunity. The whistling stopped momentarily, and then what I recognised to be the opening bars to a song rang out.

"Is that Don't Stop the Music?" Jesse laughed quietly.

"That was one of our songs with the Trebles back at Barden. That's definitely Bumper." We finally came to the vent opening that seemed to be the source of the sound, and Donald peered through.

"Is he in there?" I whispered.

"Yeah, him and two others. They're handcuffed to some poles."

"Shit, how are we gonna get them free?" I groaned, already wracking by brain for some solution to that problem. Then, Amy spoke up, the grin evident in her voice.

"Leave it to me."

"How much further is it back to the truck?" I panted, my eyes fixed on Jesse, who was staring straight ahead in an effort to concentrate on carrying Beca as gently as possible. He shook his head, unable to answer.

"It shouldn't be long." Lily whispered from my side, and I bit my lip. I was trying to retain my composure, but inside I was panicking, and I _really _felt like I was about to throw up. I had felt this way ever since we heard that first scream in the vents, and now I was struggling to ignore it for much longer. I couldn't bear to see Beca like this, it was tearing me apart, particularly because there was nothing that I could do, but my strength came from what I felt when I thought of Jesse; He'd never seen his sister in any kind of vulnerable state. She'd always hidden away when she had to cry or freak out, and so this must be something of a massive shock to his system because of that. On top of which, he was a med student; sure, he was a freshman, but he was still the person we would all turn to in this sort of situation, and so the weight of fixing her lay mainly on his shoulders. What a terrible burden to bear. And so, for now, I kept in my tears and screams and concentrated on helping us much as I could; Beca and her brother needed me more than ever right now, I planned on being there for them as much as I could be. We were still jogging, but were tiring quickly, Jesse in particular. It seemed like we'd been running for hours, when in reality I knew that it was only about fifteen minutes from the hospital to the truck, maybe less at this pace. Suddenly, it loomed into view, and I almost cried out with relief. Lily and I quickly removed the wire ties from the handles on the back doors and flung them open before helping Jesse to carefully lay Beca out in the back. It must have been creeping closer to dawn all the while, for the sky was getting steadily lighter, but I lit some of the candles that we'd pilfered from the shop and closed the doors, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention.

"You okay, Jesse?" I asked. He nodded quickly, already rifling through the first aid kit that he and Beca had originally had in their backpacks and drawing out several rolls of bandages, plasters, some kind of ointment, sterilising wipes and a couple of asprin. With his back to me now, I finally let a few tears escape from my eyes and roll down my cheeks as I leant back against the inside wall of the truck. She had to be okay. She had to be.

My face lit up as the vent popped open and I saw Donald sticking his head and shoulders through, grinning at me.

"You found me!" I sighed, relieved.

"Don't forget about us, man." Cynthia-Rose muttered, but I could tell from her face that she was similarly excited and grateful. Donald dropped to the floor now, quickly followed by Aubrey, Stacie and then Amy.

"Dude you shoulda mentioned the cuffs though." Donald grumbled, stopping just in front of me.

"Oh shit, yeah…" I frowned. I hadn't really thought to mention them, but now I realised that my friends probably had no means of freeing us with them in place.

"Stand aside, twig bitches, I'm going in." Amy suddenly laughed, pushing through the others and going round to where the cuffs were keeping me to the pole. There was a loud cracking noise and I felt my hands drop free. I sighed with relief, moving my hands round to my front and rubbing at my wrists. Amy then moved on to Cynthia-Rose and Benji, freeing them too.

"How did you do that?!" Aubrey hissed, looking bewildered. Amy shrugged.

"I had a set of pliers on me. I picked 'em up in that shop because I thought they might come in handy." Donald offered me a hand up and I took it, grunting as my knees clicked.

"Fuck, you sound like an old man." He chuckled, and I just glared at him in mock-annoyance.

"Let's just get out of here before anyone notices we're free or whatever." I sighed.

"What about you two?" Stacie asked, turning to Cynthia-Rose and Benji, who were watching us warily.

"They're cool. They both got captured too, we might as well help them get out." I interjected, seeing Aubrey eyeing the pair suspiciously.

"Alright, fine. Let's go then." She strode back over to the vent opening and one by one we boosted each other up until only she was left. Stacie and I hauled her up after us and closed the vent, before quickly crawling after the others. By the time we reached the end of the vent I realised that it was nearing dawn, for though it was gloomy it was still getting rapidly lighter.

"We have to hurry." I whispered urgently. We were soon piling out into the light, and I could see Donald and Aubrey scanning our surroundings for guards. I blinked as the light hit my face, full force, coughing slightly as the fresh air shot into my lungs.

"I don't care that I wasn't even down there for long, this is still amazing oh jesus." I moaned, grinning as Cynthia-Rose and Benji displayed similar reactions.

"I hear you. I thought my next breath of fresh air would be my last… this is incredible."

"T-thank you for rescuing us." Benji smiled at the others, who nodded.

"No problem. Right, it looks clear, let's make a dash for the alley." We set off, my lungs still burning with the sharp new air. And then, we heard it; gunshots, and shouts from somewhere off to our left.

"GO GO GO!" Donald yelled, and we started sprinting even faster, panic coursing through our veins. We hadn't noticed a pair of guards rounding the corner as we ran, and now they were firing at our backs, a few more soldiers running out to join them. I heard a shriek from beside me, and turned to see Stacie clutching her shoulder and grimacing.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Aubrey shrieked, just as Stacie collapsed to the floor. We both sopped dead in our tracks to lift her up and carry her between us. Soon, we were out of their range, but a couple of soldiers were following behind us and we weren't safe yet. By the time we made it back to the truck, I felt like the air was so sharp and fresh that it was tearing holes in my throat and lungs, but we kept on. Amy sped round to the cab, starting the engine as soon as she was inside, and we all piled into the back, startling Jesse, Chloe and Lily who were already inside and leaning over Beca. Donald was getting into the car, already pulling away. I slammed the doors behind me, and shouted out to Amy.

"We're in, GO!" She did so, the truck leaping forward at an alarming rate, and we were away. Somehow, we'd made it. Thank god.

I was slowly trying my best to clean out the majority of Beca's cuts and staunch the flow of blood from the worst of them when Bumper, Aubrey, Stacie and two strangers bundled themselves into the back of the truck with us, all panting and gasping for air.

"We're in, GO!" Bumper yelled, before slumping back against the wall.

"Who the hell are they?" I asked through gritted teeth, and Bumper glanced at me.

"Cynthia-Rose and Benji. They were down there with me. We were chased by guards so we didn't have time to split up or anything." Now the guy called Benji was leaning forward, peering at Beca carefully.

"Is she alright?" I shook my head.

"I'm not sure."

"Do you want a hand? I'm a senior med-student, there might be something I can do." My scowl relaxed into an expression of relief.

"Seriously? Okay yeah that would be great, I'm only a freshman med so I could definitely use your help." Benji smiled, and shuffled over, picking up some of the sterilising wipes and getting to work. I glanced over to Aubrey and Stacie now, who were over in the corner.

"You guys alright?" Aubrey turned to look at me, her face pale.

"Stacie… sh-she's been shot or something." We all froze and turned to her. I quickly scooted over, trying to keep calm.

"Okay, okay can you show me where?" Aubrey turned her over in her arms, pointing to her left shoulder with a shaking hand. I wasted no time in tearing at the material of her shirt, the blood soaking through it making it easier to do so. Underneath, I could see the entry point.

"Benji, I think we need to take care of this first." He glanced up, nodding before handing Chloe the wipes.

"Keep cleaning out her cuts and burns." Lily moved to Chloe's side now, also taking over work on Beca as Benji moved to join me.

"Uh oh."

"What?" He shook his head.

"I'm not sure if we have the necessary equipment to deal with this."

"You have to!" Aubrey shouted, her face red.

"I'll try my best. Are there any tweezers or anything like that anywhere?" At this, Aubrey quickly delved into her coat pocket and thrust a pair towards him.

"Okay, great. Chloe, could you please pass me a sterile wipe please?" Chloe did so, and Benji began to wipe the tweezers thoroughly.

"Seeing as we're in no position to be picky, I'm going to have to use these to remove the bullet. We can only hope that it didn't shatter - if it's all in one piece, we'll be okay. The only thing then will be keeping the wound from getting infected. We'll have to try to stop at a chemist or something. Beca needs medicine too." I glanced back over to where Lily and Chloe were tending to my sister, who still looked pale as ever. Hopefully we could save them both. Benji dropped the wipe to the floor, apparently satisfied with the cleanliness of the tweezers, and gestured that I come closer.

"I need you to hold the wound open like this. Can you do that with one hand?" I placed the fingers of my left hand on either side of the wound and pulled it apart like he's shown me.

"Good. Use the other hand to control the blood flow. What I'm about to do will cause the bleeding to intensify, and I need to be able to see as clearly as possible. Got it?" I nodded. He carefully reached into the wound, the blood spurting up almost immediately. I dabbed it away as fast as I could, but it kept coming. Eventually, he cried out triumphantly.

"I've got it. Be ready with bandages." He pulled firmly, and suddenly drew out a small bullet held in the tweezers. He wiped it off and examined it carefully as I quickly sterilised and bandaged the wound.

"It's completely whole. She's very lucky; it didn't shatter, and she hasn't lost too much blood. She should be fine for now, but we need to find those antibiotics." Benji sighed, placing a hand on the girl's forehead. Aubrey lunged forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, sobbing into his shirt.

"Thank you, thank you so much." He looked more terrified at this than he had been at the prospect of treating a bullet wound, and he gingerly patted her back with the least-bloodied of his hands.

"No p-p-problem…" I allowed myself a small smile. Stacie could now rest and I knew she'd be fine under Aubrey's care. Now, we just had to attend to Beca.

"We've cleaned out everything we can." Chloe mumbled, eyes swimming with tears as Benji and I made our way back over to where she was still gripping Beca's hand tightly. There seemed to be no change in my sister's condition; she was still completely unresponsive and deathly pale except from the dark purple bruises blossoming across her face and arms.

"She's suffering multiple traumas, so it's not surprising that her body has just shut down; she must be in shock. We need to finish bandaging the worst of her wounds and then we can focus on waking her." Benji mused, already reaching for another roll of bandages. We set to patching up the worst of her injuries, and when we were done, turned back to Benji, who was looking at her carefully.

"Okay, we need to keep her as warm as possible. Everybody, give me your extra layers." Everyone removed their coats and jackets and handed them to Benji, who draped them over Beca so that she was covered up to her neck.

"Other than that, there isn't much else I can do. We need to get additional supplies. I need saline, and possibly blood. What blood type is she, do you know?" I bit my lip.

"A positive." He sighed.

"That's relatively common. Are you the same?" I shook my head.

"I'm O positive."

"I think… I think I might be A positive." Chloe suddenly interjected, her eyes wide and nervous.

"If that's true, then you could well save Beca's life. We need to get to a lab though, a chemists. Somewhere with equipment for testing bloods, and medicine." I dropped my head into my hands.

"I don't know where we'll find one, if we'll find one… and even if we do, who's to say it will still have what we need? Who's to say we won't end up in the exact same situation that we're in now?" I could feel the tears forcing their way to the front of my eyes, so I kept my head down, feeling a soft hand on my shoulder.

"It's okay. We'll make it. For Beca." Chloe's strength was surprising me and yet it wasn't; in a sense, I'd always known she had it in her. So I stayed there with my face pressed into my knees, and I let myself cry for a moment because my sister was lying unconscious next to me and for now, there was nothing I could do.

Hours later, we parked up and reconvened in the back of the truck. I was tired, but I couldn't quite muster the peacefulness required to sleep, and so I sat awake, watching over those around me. Aubrey and Stacie lay side by side in one corner, snoring gently. Stacie had woken up a while back, and seemed fine now. Likewise, the others were all in a large pile in the opposite corner, and beside me Beca and Chloe lay together as always, Chloe with her head on Beca's chest. Earlier she told me she wanted to keep listening to her heartbeat, and I understood that now, in the dark, when it was getting harder and harder to picture the colour of her eyes in the daylight. I knew things could go either drastically well or devastatingly badly for us from now on, but then, wasn't that how things had been from the start? Our lives had always been on the line, and now all I could do was hope. Hope that Chloe could keep on listening to that heartbeat for years to come, and hope that very soon I would be able to look into those stormy-blue eyes again and see that same old smirk that I had come to associate with my sister.


End file.
